Monthly Report for November 2023
Dear Citizens,
I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving with friends and family. Hard to believe it is December already and we are all now looking forward to the Christmas season. Now as the holidays begin to get into full swing, I wish a happy and blessed holiday season to all our citizens, our military, law enforcement and first responders. To my extended family at the NCSO, I want to thank you for what you do every day to protect and serve the place we all call home. Just as the past several years have definitely had their challenges, this year has come with its troubles and been no exception as it has been hard on so many in plenty of ways. May you still continue to count your blessings and feel grateful for all He has done and provided regardless of the challenges we face.
This month we had the opportunity to honor the men and women of our United States military who have served. A Veteran whether active duty, retired, discharged or reserve, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to the 'United States of America', for an amount of up to and including their life." Many pass through the designated day not knowing the men and women who fight for their freedom, their rights and so many are still keeping the enemy at bay.
I hope you remember to always be thankful for our veterans and their service as it is important that they are remembered every day. Please make sure and honor these heroes and not just on November 11th. We at the NCSO honor all those who have given so much and we thank you.
We were honored by having an invitation for the NCSO Honor Guard to post the colors for the Veterans Day program in Kerens. We are always proud to do so. Thank you to all Veterans for your service to our country.
The Navarro County Sheriff's Office has received several complaints from citizens about being scammed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by using cryptocurrency machines as a platform to commit scams. The victims reported using cryptocurrency machines in Navarro and surrounding counties when they were scammed. These scammers are contacting potential victims and advising them that employees of their bank are involved in money laundering and that the bank and the potential victim are going to be under investigation.
The scammers ask the potential victim not to tell anyone about the investigation. The potential victims are being told that their accounts will be frozen and all money will be removed from them and that their money will be safe and secure by converting it to cryptocurrency.
The potential victim is then advised to go to a cryptocurrency machine and asked to place all of their money into the machine with an account number that is provided by the scammer.
Once U.S. Currency is placed into these machines the money is non-returnable. The scammers immediately move it from the provided account number into another. This process can be done numerous times, making the transactions untraceable. The Navarro County Sheriff's Office is encouraging citizens if they run into this type of scam to contact their financial institutions in person immediately to verify the claims by the scammers and to contact NCSO.
I have always believed in visiting schools and interacting with students of all ages whenever we are able. Together we at the NCSO visit campuses and events throughout the year for the purpose of interacting with our youth.
This month it was my turn as I was asked to speak with the criminal justice class at Navarro College.
I enjoyed being on campus and speaking to the class and especially to see the interest and participation from the students afterwards in asking questions. I was glad to be able to share my knowledge on an array of subjects concerning the different positions within the law enforcement profession.
This month in a continuous effort to evolve and provide training to our officers, we had over 50 NCSO officers attend Narcan training over the past two days. The free training was conducted by medical professionals with Southern Health Partners. Narcan (naloxone HCI) can be administered for known or suspected opioid overdoses. It is my hope that we never have to utilize this training but it has been proven more than once to save lives.
I was visited and humbly honored yesterday by Southern Health Partners. They presented me with The Southern Health Partners Life Saving Award.
They posted: "Sheriff Tanner jumped into action to help our team member from what could have been a potential dog attack by two stray dogs that had roamed into the parking lot of the jail.
He happened to be pulling in the parking lot when this occurred and quickly assessed the situation and took action to ensure our nurse was safe. Thanks to Sheriff Tanner, everyone emerged from this situation unharmed, including the two dogs. Thank you Sheriff for your dedication to public safety and the well-being of our medical team members!"
I truly appreciate the kindness, am humbled, honored and glad I was there to make this individual feel comfortable and reassure them they were safe. Thank you.
This month we introduced our newest employee Deputy Recruit Harry Louque who's also a retired military veteran with 10 years' service as a United States Marine. Deputy Recruit Louque will attend the Navarro College Police Academy beginning in January. Deputy Yakelin Ramirez was transferred from corrections to patrol and has began the 16 week patrol FTO program.
Deputy Dakota Yates has successfully completed the patrol FTO program. We wish Deputy Yates all the best of luck with his assignment in patrol and look forward to him serving the citizens of Navarro County.
Congratulations to Cindy Hightower who retired after 16 years of working in corrections at the NCSO. We all wish Cindy happiness, the best of luck and thank her for her years of service.
The Sheriff's Office had approximately 1,777 calls for service in November and our dispatch received 2,617 calls for assistance to 9-1-1. There were approximately 159 persons arrested and booked into the Navarro County Justice Center and the average daily jail population was 228 inmates.
Six inmates were transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and seven inmates were transferred to State Jail and SAFP Units to serve their sentences. In November, we sold one estray sheep at Corsicana Livestock Auction for $124.61.
We are accepting applications for all divisions and currently have vacancies in detention, dispatch, patrol, and courthouse security. Remember the hiring age for dispatch and detention has been lowered to 18 but with all other enforcement positions, you must be 21 or older to apply. As in the past, applications will continue to be taken for any vacancy until the position is filled.
Again, from my family and our family here at the NCSO to yours, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and joyous holiday season. Let us all cherish this time, our families, friends and the many blessings we have received this year.
"Peace on earth will come to stay when we live Christmas every day."
- Helen Steiner Rice
As always, God Bless and be safe.
Sheriff Elmer Tanner
