By John Hacker
The Joplin Globe, Mo.
CARTHAGE, Mo. — Some informal negotiations and old-fashioned horse trading helped the smaller Jasper County police departments meet their immediate needs with limited funds available from the county’s Law Enforcement Sales Tax.
This year, the total amount available for LEST grants was $244,293, while the amount requested by nine area police departments and the Jasper County Juvenile Department was $412,239.
Jasper police Chief Chad Carr said informal negotiations usually break out between the police departments when this happens. This year, the Jasper Police Department was in a position to help.
“We show up, and they tell us how much money is available from this past year, and then they tell us how much total everyone asked for, and then they give us time to discuss it,” Carr said. “In Duquesne, their city was going to give them what they didn’t get from the LEST, so they didn’t need our help. Sarcoxie, I knew their fleet wasn’t the best, and they told us they were asking for a car. We discussed the mileage on each department’s cars, and it was a no-brainer — they needed the money more than we did this year, so they agreed basically to help us next year if needed.”
The Jasper Police Department, which had asked for a new car among other items, agreed to put all but about $6,000 of its almost $51,000 request back into the pot so Sarcoxie could get a new car and other departments could meet their needs.
“We were very grateful for it, and hopefully we can return the favor someday,” Sarcoxie Mayor Don Triplett said. “We’ve had problems with getting vehicles, and what we’ve done, like with the last vehicle we got, we were able to leverage the LEST grant with a USDA grant to get a new vehicle. This is part of maintaining our fleet so we have vehicles to patrol with.”
Carr said the grants, which were started when voters approved the quarter-cent countywide Law Enforcement Sales Tax in November 2005, have become essential to the smaller departments in Jasper County.
The tax was passed to increase the amount of money available for the Jasper County sheriff’s office. As part of the proposal, 4.3% of the proceeds were allocated to a grant fund that would be made available to the smaller departments in the county. Joplin already had a dedicated law enforcement tax, so it was excluded from eligibility for the grants.
“Without the LEST grants, folks like us, our department, we’d be driving 1988 Caprices with 500,000 miles on them, basically,” Carr said. “Our city just doesn’t have the tax base. A vehicle is a big expense, and we just don’t have the money. Thanks to the LEST, our guns, our equipment, our cars are all updated.”
The Jasper Police Department ended up getting $5,916 of its $50,998 grant request; the money will go to pay technology licenses and fees to maintain the computers and internet connectivity in its police cars.
Sarcoxie will get all of the $35,046 it requested to purchase and equip a new car.
Other grants approved Tuesday:
—Carthage: $44,073 for seven Toughbook computers and software.
—Carl Junction: $31,132 for upgraded body cameras and vehicle cameras.
—Carterville: $30,604 for upgraded records management software.
—Webb City: $29,429 for vehicle equipment.
—Duquesne: $20,325.
—Oronogo: $17,506.
—Jasper County Juvenile Office: $15,715.
—Duenweg: $14,543.
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