Greene County to serve as ‘central booking center’
WAYNESBURG – Greene County jail will serve as a “central booking center” beginning next month to allow for video arraignment of suspects during evening and weekend hours.
Greene County President Judge Farley Toothman signed an order Monday to authorize the countywide initiative beginning Oct. 1 that law enforcement officials hope will allow them to spend more time patrolling rather than keeping a suspect in custody awaiting an overnight arraignment.
“The biggest deal will be getting our police officers, with the limited amount we have in the county, back into the community rather than waiting on the lag time with arraignment,” said Sgt. Steve Dowlin, commanding officer of the state police barracks in Waynesburg.
If someone is arrested after normal business hours or on a weekend or holiday, the officer will transport him to Greene County jail along Rolling Meadows Road in Franklin Township and file the appropriate paperwork. The officer can then leave, but the suspect will remain at the jail until the on-call district judge is notified an arraignment must be performed. Arraignments will be conducted twice a day – at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. – on an as-needed basis.
The magistrates, Glenn Bates, Louis Dayich and Lee Watson, will be able to perform the arraignments by video from their district offices.
Currently, the on-call magistrate is contacted each time an arraignment is needed and the suspect is brought to that judge’s office, even if an arrest was made on the other side of the county.
Dowlin said the issue was originally discussed at a criminal justice advisory committee meeting in July, and county and local law enforcement officials began planning.
Harry Gillispie, warden of Greene County jail, said they are still working on the logistics of the program, but is encouraged by the concept. He added they will not be a “full-blown booking center that would take care of everything from start to finish.
“We’re starting out small and working our way up,” Gillispie said. “Our initiative was getting the police officers back on the road as quickly as possible. Let’s not tie them up.”
To pay for the program, an additional $100 fee will be assessed to people who plead guilty or are convicted of felonies or misdemeanors, plead no contest or are accepted into the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program.
A similar system was rolled out in Washington County last year, which seems to be working well, law enforcement officials in that county have said. Gillispie is happy the new system will allow police officers to spend more time in their communities.
“I’m sure there will be some bumps in the road, and we’ll work to get things worked out,” he said. “The main goal is to get the police officers back on the road and not babysitting. That’s my job.”