Rooks County Sheriff and City of Stockton now one law enforcement department

As many people in Stockton have already noticed, there are no more patrol vehicles in town with the Stockton Police Department decals on them. Effective January 1st, 2020 the law enforcement contract between the Rooks County Sheriff’s Office and the City of Stockton took effect.

During the summer and fall of 2019 the County did its best to break down and provide a detailed accounting of what the projected start-up cost for this endeavor would be for the City, along with recurring costs in order to maintain the level of protection the City wants for its citizens.

Several meetings and negotiations were also held during that time between the Rooks County Commissioners, the City of Stockton Commissioners, Stockton City Manager Courtney Flower, county attorney Danielle Muir, city attorney Joe Gasper and the Sheriff’s Office. Once the contract was drawn up and signed, it stated that the newly combined law enforcement agency (Rooks County Sheriff’s Department) would start on January 1st, 2020, and the contract would be reviewed on a yearly basis between the two entities.

The Rooks County Commission, comprised of John Ruder, Greg Balthazor and Corky Hagan stated, “The Commission was concerned what this venture would do to the Sheriff’s Department financially and physically, but Sheriff Knight was confident that it would benefit his office as well as the City of Stockton, so the Commission approved the addition to the department.”

The Municipal Court was also discussed as part of this venture. Every deputy has been cross-trained in the writing of City and County tickets with the City adopting the same fine schedules as the County this past fall. Plus, the Stockton Municipal Court will now be held in the training room at the Sheriff’s Office in the Rooks County Jail. However, the City is still responsible for animal control and public nuisance violations.

The Sheriff’s Department has hired four more full-time deputies who began their duties as part of the new law enforcement department as of January 1st. The Rooks County Sheriff Department’s full-time staff now includes Sheriff Gary Knight, Undersheriff Chad Sterling, Lieutenant Collin Hockett, K-9 Sergeant Nolan Weiser, Deputy Quintin Silsby, Deputy Ben Larson, Deputy Don Earl, Deputy Jessie Goodenow, Deputy Lauren Tucker and Deputy Randy Benoit. All deputies will be on a revolving 12-hour shift. Every deputy will take their turn patrolling in the City and around the County, making it one unit for all as it helps each deputy learn every aspect of the “County” and “City” duties.

Stockton City Manager Courtney Flower states: “I feel the transition from a city police force to county law enforcement has gone very smoothly. The City of Stockton will continue to have 24-hour law enforcement service with the Rooks County Sheriff Deputies. The community will continue to see sheriff deputies around during parades, community events, school events and patrolling our city streets. The City of Stockton continues to generate revenue from Municipal Court. As for the officers that transferred to the sheriff’s office, this change has allowed them better equipment and more specialized training.”

Sheriff Gary Knight added, “A way of looking at this joining of the two departments is the City of Stockton just gained six additional deputies while the County gained four more. This new joint relationship will greatly increase the response time in the northern half of Rooks County and make for a great working environment for the newly formed Rooks County Sheriff’s Department.”