The Town of Dover Board of Mayor and Aldermen met February 9 at City Hall. All members except Jonathan Timmons were present.
Police Chief Scott Bickford gave the police report for the month of January. “The Police Department had 200 traffic stops, which is up from 193 from last month, we had 106 citations issued, up from 92, 101 warnings were issued, that is down from 110, five misdemeanor arrests, two felony arrests, 132 complaints up from 109 last month. It’s been a pretty slow month, weather, most people know from December to March people stay off the roads and in their house. Officer Vic Ward attended a court room testimony class in Nashville which emphasized DUI arrests and testimony and Officer Jordan Mickle went to a two day drug interdiction class in Jackson, TN. We have two new individuals in the process of riding with us to become reserve with our department. Our reserve department is down to like one or two people from four or five.”
Additionally, Bickford spoke about partnering with the Juvenile Justice program. “Last month I met with Patricia Miller from the Juvenile Justice office about doing a mentor program with the people on probation. If Judge Brigham would give them community service, if they think they are good candidates they would do community service with the Town of Dover, do some ride a longs with us and talk to them and get them on the right track. I provided them with a copy of our ride a long program and Judge Brigham looked it over and added a couple of things he’d like to see in the wording. I will continue to get with them until we get a final approval.” Moreover, Bickord said they cancelled the program they used to do reports with and saved thousands, after Alex Berta, who works in cyber security, developed a program for them to use for reports.
Next, Council member Archie Story spoke. “For several months we have been getting the Dover Police Dept. citation accountability. Really, it’s upsetting to me knowing what we are not doing out there. My dad had a saying, ‘There is no difference than stealing from an individual and stealing your paycheck. We are paying officers a good salary for this area to do a decent day of work. We have an officer, several months in a row, writes one ticket a month. There is one person that comes through his shift through the city of Dover breaking the speed? No, that’s not right. We had the Chief, all of his administrator duties and he writes more than several of the officers. We have a part time officer that does pretty good being part time. Do we need to start looking at probationary conditions for these officers that are not doing what they need to be doing? I mean they are cheating the city citizens their salary, they are stealing it, there is no difference in it. I mean, you go out here for a month and you write one ticket? You’ve stole the city taxpayers money.”…