Marion County Sheriff Kevin Cripps says the population at the county jail is at its lowest number since the new jail opened and there was another jump in fraud cases in 2023.
Overall, Cripps says otherwise numbers are fairly consistent with 2022. The county handled a total of 12,237 incidents, an increase of 439 over 2022. The largest part of the increase was a jump of more than 100 prisoner transports to 508. Most of that was the result of the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center not transporting juveniles anymore. The center has now closed completely as a result of staffing shortages.
The number of all types of burglaries fell from 71 to 61 cases. Theft cases increased from nine to 175, while criminal damage to property complaints jumped from 32 cases to 105.
Cripps says reported fraud cases, including identity theft, increased by 12 to 62.
“Everyone is getting hit with fraud. It’s not just the seniors, it’s kids of all ages, young and old. The Sheriff’s Office itself gets multiple fraud calls per day. All I ask is no one is going to call from the sheriff’s department to obtain your social security number or banking account, we aren’t going to call you and tell you that you have a warrant or say you need to pay something over the phone by gift card or something like that. All that is scams and we need to continue to get the message out and I think it is, that these scams are out there.”
There was a considerable increase in burglar alarm calls up from 50 to 260 and animal complaints which jumped from 28 to 257. Accidents went down 60 to 603. The sheriff’s department also investigated 220 suspicious vehicles and 284 suspicious people, both up. The county was involved in 23 missing person investigations. There were eight DUI arrests and 879 traffic stops.
The jail saw fewer inmates and a much smaller population, both of which Cripps says are a result of the new cashless bail law. As of the start of the year, the Marion County Jail had only 59 prisoners including 22 held for the federal prison system.
“We are at the lowest numbers since the opening of the new jail building. We are still running fully staffed. We can maintain that with federal prisoners we have to offset that and will continue to try and do that.”
Cripps says 1,364 adult inmates were booked into the jail, down 127. There were 39 juveniles processed into custody, down 27. He says it will take another year before the ongoing impact of the safety act is known.
