Sheriff's deputies perform a number of duties.
They investigate crimes, handle complaints, make arrests, serve subpoenas, provide traffic control, provide courtroom security, and, now, patrol roadside greenboxes.
Patrol roadside greenboxes?
Yep, that's right right.
Trash patrol.
The duty to patrol the county's 210 dumpster sites and 363 greenboxes was added by Sheriff D.J. Oakes to his deputies' duty list August 1 after the Board of Supervisors requested the sheriff's department to step up the monitoring of greenbox dumpster sites in an effort to crack down on individuals illegally disposing of construction waste and debris in county greenboxes.
In addition to wanting to see an increase in the number of citations written for that type of violation, Supervisors also want to crack down on individuals who illegally dispose of items such as old refrigerators, household appliances, furniture, and other items at greenbox sites as well as individuals who make a practice of scavenging from greenboxes.
The heightened patrol efforts were set to run a 90 day span. Sheriff D.J. Oakes is slated to provide a full report to the Board of Supervisors on November 3. That report will contain the number of citations issued, and what court action, if any was taken against violators.
The sheriff's department is not the only agency that was asked to devote time to "trash patrol." But, it is the largest agency involved.
Oakes is in full agreement that illegal dumping and scavenging at county greenbox sites is a big problem and something needs to be done about it.
"But, what people don't understand is how difficult it is to monitor something like that," he noted.
The sheriff made the point that people are not going to dump trash when a deputy or officer or personnel of some other agency is watching. What those people will do, he said, is go on up the road to the next dumpster or to some other site where nobody is watching. Or, he adds, they will go to the greenbox late at night when a lot fewer people are out and about.
"A critical thing in all of this is that people don't do stuff like that when a deputy is sitting there at the greenbox," Oakes explained.
"What are you going to do, buy binoculars for all of the deputies and have them sit in the bushes and watch the greenbox? It (catching violators) is a difficult task to do in a marked police car."
In reaction to the Board of Supervisors' request, Oakes issued a bulletin to all of his deputies informing them that they were to devote one hour of their shift per day monitoring greenboxes.
The sheriff noted, however, that imposing the extra duty on his deputies has stretched an already stretched staff even further.
"It takes an already taxed department and taxes it more," Oakes explained.
"Often, we only have two or three deputies working per shift. It's pretty difficult to work in an hour per shift sitting at a garbage site with all of the things that we have going on in the county."
"It's a hit and miss, a spotty kind of thing for us," Oakes added.
"You can have a deputy sitting monitoring a dumpster site and get a call about a fight or break-in or some other complaint that has to be handled and you have to that man off of it (monitoring the dumpster)."
Similar problems are faced by personnel of the other participating agencies, Oakes said.
"They don't really have the time either," he pointed out.
"Some of them do have unmarked cars. But, the only thing they can hope for is for somebody to ride up on somebody and catch them while they're doing it (illegally dumping materials)."
Financially, the greenbox patrol can be viewed as a loser for county taxpayers. Oakes said that on the average a deputy's pay is approximately $10 an hour. So, for example, if there are six deputies working during a day, that totals $60 for the day that is going toward dumpster patrol.
While it is true that the $60 is not additional money that is being spent in this example, it is $60 in taxpayers' money that is being paid for deputies to patrol dumpster sites as opposed to performing other law enforcement duties.
"If you say you pay a deputy $10 an hour to monitor a greenbox and he doesn't write any tickets, you have gained nothing," Oakes explained.
"Then, you still have to pay a landfill employee to come to the site and get the old broken refrigerator or whatever refuse is there beside the greenbox and haul it back to the landfill and dispose of it. You're losing money two-fold that way."
Oakes also points out that it is not only having to take time in a deputy's work shift to patrol the greenboxes, additional time is removed from a deputy's shift when he has to appear in court on a case.
"That's another aspect of it," Oakes points out.
"You have to go to court every time you write up a charge. That gets the deputies tied up in Court on a violation that the judge may or may not assess a fine."
Oakes said there is also some question about how stringent the prosecutions of violators may be and what approach judges will take.
"The thing is, how does the Court feel about these types of cases?" Oakes said.
"We really don't know what to expect. If the judge is going to hit everybody with a $50 fine and court costs or something like that, it (the added patrol effort) might be worth it. I'm really anxious to see what will happen when we go to court with these types of cases."
One aspect of some cases that may arise in Court, Oakes says, is that some people are totally unaware that what they are doing is illegal.
"People don't realize it is against the law to take something out of a greenbox," Oakes said.
"Scavenging out of a greenbox is a serious violation of county ordinances. It's a no-no to go into a greenbox and remove anything from it."
At the same time, though, Oakes noted, you almost cannot help feeling sorry for a needy individual who is caught rummaging through a greenbox searching for aluminum cans that they can collect and sell to make a little money to help make ends meet.
"It's illegal for the person to be doing that," points out Oakes, "but, at the same time, it's hurtful to charge someone who is doing it only to try to make a little money to try to make ends meet."
This is not the first time that patrols of greenboxes have been stepped up. A few years ago, problems arose in Riverdale and adjacent areas when some South Boston residents made a practice of dumping debris and wastes in county greenboxes which they were not supposed to be using.
Oakes said that he remembered that some citations were written, some people were fined, and some had cases dismissed upon payment of court costs.
Oakes suggests that the county should take a different approach.
Instead of maintaining multitudes of greenboxes throughout the county, the sheriff suggests that the county take a look at doing something like neighboring Pittsylvania County has done.
"They have designated landfill sites," Oakes said.
"There are probably not but nine or ten in the entire county. But, they are all fenced in and have people there to monitor the sites, collect tipping fees, have compactors at the site, and have a schedule where landfill trucks come by every so often and pick up the trash."
"I know that may be less convenient for some people," added Oakes, "but it would probably save money for the county in the long run."
A memorial service for Captain Jason S. Ramsey, USAF will be held Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Halifax County High School.
School principal Larry Clark said that the service will be held at the flagpole in front of the school.
However, in the case of inclement weather, the service will be held in the high school auditorium.
The service, Clark said, will include full military honors with military personnel from various parts of the country attending the approximately hour long service.
Seating for Saturday's memorial service at the flagpole will be very limited and Clark advises that individuals who have difficulty standing for a lengthy period of time should bring their own lawn chairs.
Persons attending the service will be asked to park in the student parking lots and in the school's bus parking lot.
The circle in front of the school will be open but will be closed to traffic prior to the start of the service. Clark noted that the circle will remain closed to traffic throughout the service and will be reopened a short time after the service has concluded.