​ Madison County sheriff seeks to improve community relations with his office during NAACP forum

Several tense moments at forum as participants voiced their concerns and disagreements

By Tyrone Tony Reed Jr.

Madison County Sheriff John Mehr sat comfortably in one of two chairs placed in front of the people who had come

to hear him speak during the “Community Forum with the Madison County Sheriff” last Thursday night. The event

was held at the Jackson Madison County NAACP Branch, located at 118 N. Church St., and moderated by JMC

NAACP Branch President Harrell Carter.

With his legs crossed, his cowboy boots on and wearing a green Madison County Sheriff’s Office shirt, Mehr

answered several questions and spoke about several issues, including housing inmates with mental illness,

overcrowding, the proposed new jail, body cameras, the diversity training of his office, his willingness to help

released offenders get a second chance and not return to jail and his commitment to improving community relations

with his office.

“I’ve been doing, I don’t know how many, community meetings since I’ve been in office,” Mehr said. “I reach out.

I’ve gone to two or three community meetings, per month, one a week...I’m always out with other groups and

organizations throughout that (time).”

Mehr said that members of his office regularly go out and speak with the public and interact with them. Two of

those members, Corrections and Jail Administrator Capt. Tom Rudder and Public Information Officer Tom Mapes,

were also in attendance at the forum.

“We are interested, otherwise we would have stayed at home,” Mehr said.

Early on in the forum, Mehr was asked about if there was a way to reduce the number of people in jail for non-

violent offenses and tackling the overcrowding.

“We have worked with the judges in the last year, year and half, about releasing and not holding people,” Mehr said.

“They’re trying to get them in and get them out.”

Mehr said with driving under the influence offenses, judges have no choice but to send offenders to jail.

“They have to serve (their time),” Mehr.

He also said most times, people who are given lengthy jail sentences are repeat offenders.

“It’s not the first time,” he said. “ It’s been three or four times because there are some (probationers), they’ve

messed up several times and it’s usually been the fourth or fifth time before the judge finally puts them back in jail.”

Carter argued that people who are suffering from mental illness don’t need to be locked up, but need help. But, Mehr

spoke of how victims of crimes feel, regardless of whether the offender has a mental illness or not.

“If someone goes and they’ve broken into your house and ransacked it and stole stuff or they’ve done something that

hurt you,” Mehr said, “as the victim, you’re going to be (saying), ‘Why can’t something be done’ and you’re going

to be in the courtroom saying that.”

“But, that’s when your mental health professionals come into play and people that need help, they’re breaking into

your house if they need food, or if they need medicine or if they need a fix,” Carter said. “It’s a crime, but it

shouldn’t have to be one that (they) should have to do time for.”

“Hold...hold.... hold on just a minute,” Mehr said at the same time Carter was finishing his statement. “We’re having

burglaries because lots of them (offenders) were supposed to be in school and they’re breaking in, stealing tvs and

everything else. So, that’s in all walks of life...The law is the law and we don’t control it.”

Mehr said mental health is something his office is working on, by checking inmates who come in and having a full-

time medical staff at the jail. He said another facility to house offenders with mental illness, where they can serve

their time and receive treatment, is needed and wanted.

Carter said that law enforcement shouldn’t even be involved in cases of mental illness.

“This is why the complex keeps getting bigger and still doesn’t really resolve the issue,” Carter said. “This is not

really complicated. It’s just the matter of will the people in the community want to resolve these issues without

getting you guys involved?”

Carter added, “There’s no way in the world you should be this deeply involved because we got an educational

system, we got a medical system that should be able to take care of our medical problems.”

When Mehr was asked if he thought crime had increased since the recent closings of schools in the Jackson-

Madison County School System, he said he couldn’t say.

Carter quickly added, “We have to remember the sheriff department does what the sheriff department does. Our

schools are run by someone else. It is funded by the same agency (the Madison County Commission). My position

is, it’s the choice in where we spend the money.”

Carter said that several aspects of the educational system, from the teachers’ salaries to the upkeep and funding of

the facilities to the technology available to students, are being underfunded.

“And our children, who need it the most, are not able to get that value added component so they can catch up and

maintain their consistency with education,” he said. “That’s why the jails are being filled up.”

Mehr also spoken on having programs at the jail that would help the inmates and cut down on the likelihood of them

returning to jail.

“They’re put there because of the courts, because of the laws,” Mehr said. “But, we can make that better, so when

they get ready to leave, they’ve learned something. We can do our part. We can’t control them when they go out (of

jail), but, if they’ll take those skills, we can teach some skills or have programs and when they go out, they won’t

return. That’s important to us.

Mehr added, “ If they’re making good citizens and they’re out there and we’ve helped them get a job, then we’ve

done something, by law, we’re not responsible for. But, if we can do it, let’s do it.