Public goes behind-the-scenes

CELINA - Mercer County residents will have the opportunity this fall to get a behind-the-scenes look at the divisions, operations and equipment of the Mercer County Sheriff's Office.

They'll even get a chance to fire law enforcement weapons at a gun range and ride shotgun with deputies on patrol during the 2024 Citizens Academy coordinated by sgt. Jay Wehrkamp, a veteran of the force.

"The word that everybody uses nowadays is transparency. This is being transparent and showing people: Here's what we do, here's how we spend your money," sheriff Jeff Grey said. "The Mercer County Sheriff's Office is capable of a lot of things that people would think just in the big cities."

After taking a year off, the rebooted and retooled academy will feature nine nightly sessions led by an array of instructors from Oct. 15-Nov. 6. There is no cost but students must be Mercer County residents, 21 or older and undergo a background check.

The academy involves classroom time, hands-on demonstrations and tours of the sheriff's office.

"It's all optional, so they can kind of pick and choose what they want to be involved in. If they want to job shadow, they can job shadow," Wehrkamp said, adding that some students opt not to go to the firing range or ride along with a deputy.

Ultimately, the academy is a win-win as the public is afforded a close-up look at an important county government agency while law enforcement personnel, through their instruction to students, get to re-evaluate their roles as civil servants, Wehrkamp said.

"It's a good experience for us as law enforcement. It lets us kind of take down our guard a little bit," said Wehrkamp, who is preparing for his eighth citizens academy. "It's good to be able to sit down and explain what you do. You don't really think about what you do day to day until somebody's asking you about it. It's good for the students and good for the instructors."

Evening sessions lasting two-to-three hours will be held twice a week for four weeks. They will cover enforcement, 911 and dispatch, corrections, firearms and civil divisions and culminate with a graduation ceremony and meal.

Wehrkamp said his hope is that students graduate with an understanding of how multiple law enforcement divisions work together as a unified whole to best serve the community.

"When people think of law enforcement or think of the sheriff's office, they think about the black cars and gold stars on the door," said Grey, who will take part in his final citizens academy before retiring at the end of the year. "That's not even the largest division we have, but that's what everybody thinks about."

Wehrkamp, capt. Megan Baker and detective Carla Baucher will provide an introduction to enforcement encompassing patrol duties, detective work and other areas.

"We may talk about our lie detector test, our CVSA (computer voice stress analyzer)," Wehrkamp said. "We'll kind of show how that works to the students."

They'll also talk about a surveying instrument crucial in various investigations.

"We have a total station which is our crime scene mapping software and hardware that we use. So we can place that like in this room and it would scan the room and then create a 3D version of the room," he said. "If we have a serious crime scene, that's what we use. That's also what we use at crashes to reconstruct crashes."

The sheriff's office drone program will be another area of focus.

Detective sgt. Chad Fortkamp and Baucher some years ago were tasked with obtaining remote pilot certification, one of the Federal Aviation Administration's requirements to fly a drone.

The drone's primary uses are to help with traffic crash reconstruction by taking aerial photos and video footage and searching for missing people.

"One of the first students that we had in our (academy) program ended up donating our first drone to us," Wehrkamp pointed out. "That's how we started our program."

Students will also have the option to watch dispatchers working the 911 center, learn about the importance of technology such as GPS mapping and body cameras, observe K-9 and taser demonstrations, tour the jail and familiarize themselves with the Grand Lake Task Force, Heroin Interdiction Team and evidence collection.

"They walk out with a pretty good understanding of what the sheriff's office does, and I think, too, some of the limitations we have," Grey said in reference to the times he and his personnel have to call upon Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) and other outside larger agencies. "People don't sometimes quite understand proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Yeah, we all know who did it but we've got to be able to prove it."

Graduates also function as ambassadors of the sheriff's office.

"When they're done with the class, they can go out to the community and explain why we do the things that we do and how we do the things that we do," Wehrkamp said. "In Mercer County, we're really lucky because the vast majority of citizens support us."

Academy applications can be found at the sheriff's office and its website and must be returned by Sept. 11. For more information, call 419-586-7724.