Cape County sheriff elected to head state association

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan has taken the reins of the Missouri Sheriffs' Association and hopes to get legislation passed that would ensure better pay for sheriffs, better 911 response services and the widespread use of video technology for arraignments and hearings.

Jordan was sworn in as the association's president last month and will serve a yearlong term that will take him all over state to visit other county sheriffs to discuss issues they face.

"I've been on the association's board for a long time and didn't really want an executive position before," Jordan said. "I'm finally at a point in my career where I want to do this."

The main issue Jordan hopes to tackle is funding for better 911 services on cellphones. Missouri is one of two states that is unable to locate people in need by their cellphone signal, Jordan said.

"If a farmer is injured in the middle of a field, we don't have any way of finding his exact location if he calls on a cellphone," Jordan said.

Emergency call services in Missouri are funded by land-line phone taxes and can locate callers based on those phone locations. Jordan hopes to begin taxing cellphones to get the same location services. He estimates the tax will add roughly a dollar on to cellphone bills.

The service would be beneficial to rural counties where the timber industry is prominent, Jordan said. Because most of its work involves heavy machinery in wooded, isolated areas, the industry is prone to making emergency calls from mobile phones, Jordan said.

"If workers in those counties can get cellphone reception, we'll be able to get to them quickly" during an emergency, he said.

In addition to getting emergency tracking on cellphones, Jordan would like to see better pay for sheriffs in rural counties. A sheriff's pay is contingent upon a county's tax base, Jordan said, and some counties' tax bases are small and rarely grow. As a result, sheriffs in what are known as third-class counties are not making what they deserve, Jordan said, noting one county sheriff in northwest Missouri is making $25,000 a year.

"These third-class counties are being left in the Dark Age," Jordan said. "They don't have a tax base that will keep up with sustainable pay for sheriffs."

Jordan also noted that deputies in some counties are making more than the sheriffs. In 2008, the Missouri Legislature passed the Deputy Sheriff Salary Supplementation Fund, and a board will soon allocate $6.4 million in grant funds to supplement deputy sheriff salaries.

Jordan said he will introduce the situation to the legislature in the spring to work out a way for sheriffs to get adequate pay. To help ensure better pay for sheriffs, Jordan believes legislators need to examine how civil fees are being spent and realign them to better benefit sheriffs.

"It's something legislators really haven't looked at," Jordan said. "I know the economy is tough these days, but we can make this work."

Jordan will also examine ways to reduce state spending. Cape Girardeau County uses video arraignment as a way to cut jail costs, and Jordan would like to see it implemented statewide.

"Counties that don't use it have to put two guys in the car to pick inmates up and take them back," Jordan said. "Using all that gas and manpower is just ludicrous."

Rather than using sheriffs' vehicles and manpower to bus inmates to and from arraignment hearings, Cape Girardeau County allows inmates to attend arraignment hearings via a live feed from the jail. The procedure cuts nine to 14 days off inmates' stay in jail.

Jordan said he will urge legislators to set up points throughout the state in order to use video for arraignments.

"We have the technology to get these things done," Jordan said.

Former association president and Livingston County Sheriff Steve Cox said he is excited to see what Jordan can do.

"I can't think of a better person for this job," said Cox, whose yearlong term ended in August.

Cox believes Jordan will be able to push sheriffs' issues through the legislature.

"He's an outstanding sheriff and a great person," Cox said. "He could be the best president the association has ever had."

psullivan@semissourian.com

388-3635

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