Iron County Sheriff’s Office
2013 Annual Report
Sheriff Mark Valesano
Iron County Sheriff’s Office 2013 Annual Report
Highlights of 2013
 String of Copper Thefts
In early October the Iron County Sheriff Office received a complaint of copper theft form a
camp located in northern Iron County. The Victim was able to give a detailed description to
the Iron County Sheriff Deputy responding to the complaint. With the help of a DNR
Conservation Office a suspect was identified and admitted to the larceny as well as another
larceny from a different camp. The Iron County Sheriff Office received several other
complaints from camps in the same area that fit the MO that this individual used to steal
copper. The suspect was convicted of the crimes and served time in the Iron County
Correctional Facility.
 Michigan Department of Corrections Housing Program
In June of 2012 the Iron County Sheriff Office started housing MDOC Level 1 inmates
through a program where the State pays $35 per day, per inmate for housing these inmates.
During 2013 the Iron County Sheriff Office continued with the program and brought over
$150,000 to the county in revenue
 Lost Hunter
In 2013 the Iron County Sheriff Office received a report of a lost hunter in the early evening
hours of September 16. Deputies called off the search around 1AM with intentions of
resuming at sunrise the next day. The search continued all day until the victim was spotted
by a National Guard Helicopter around 4:30PM. GPS coordinates from the victim’s phone
got offices within a couple of miles but due to the remoteness and the random two track
roads the search was complicated.
 BP Marathon Station B&E
In June of 2013 Iron County Sheriff Office investigated a breaking and entering of the
Caspian BP Marathon where cigarettes and alcohol were stolen. Utilizing video from the
store and witnesses statements they were able to identify a suspect and successfully prosecute
the breaking and entering.
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Iron County Sheriff’s Office 2013 Annual Report
Administration
The Sheriff has the responsibility of providing executive leadership and is the direct liaison with
the county administration, the public at large, other law enforcement agencies, state and county
departments and offices, and community organizations. The Sheriff oversees the budget and sets
policy to run an efficient and fiscally responsible Office. Through his staff, Sheriff Valesano
directs the activities of the Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff’s administrative staff consists of
Administrative Assistant Lynda Cross, Undersheriff Thomas Courchaine, and Jail Administrator
Lt. Vernon Jones.
The undersheriff is responsible for oversight of the road patrol to ensure proper performance of
their duties, adherence to established rules, regulations, and policies and procedures. Similarly,
the undersheriff is responsible with the Sheriff for the maintenance of discipline and morale
within the office. The undersheriff is empowered to act as a law enforcement officer for the
detection, apprehension, arrest and conviction of offenders against the law. The undersheriff
manages all grants of the Sheriff’s Office. Finally, with regard to general duties, the undersheriff
is to ensure the cooperation with Corrections Staff within the Sheriff’s Office and other county
departments.
Both the Sheriff and Undersheriff provide 24/7 “on call” supervisory response to coordinate
major incidents. In addition the Sheriff and Undersheriff are “on call” to respond to calls for
service between the hours of 3am and 7am as these hours are not covered by the ICSO or the
MSP schedule. This activity is a shared responsibility, every other month, with the State Police.
The Jail is managed by Jail Administrator Lt. Vernon Jones. The Iron County Correctional
Facility is staffed by 8 full time and 3 part time Correctional Deputies. They maintain a clean,
efficient modern jail facility which serves our communities needs well. Lt Jones supervises,
schedules and oversees training of Correctional Deputies. His responsibilities include oversight
of inmate services and management of the building and grounds. Through efficiencies that have
been implemented in the jail facility, the cost of its operation prior to 2013 has remained flat.
With implementation of the MDOC boarding program the Sheriff has substantially offset the
cost of operation in 2013 with the revenue received for boarding state inmates.
Administrative Assistant Lynda Cross coordinates schedules of the Sheriff, Undersheriff, and
Jail Administrator. She codes and pay bills, maintains Sheriff’s Office records, prepares pay
sheets, responds to FOIA and other requests for reports, updates sex offender registry, processes
Carry Concealed Weapon applications / Permit to Purchase, and administers civil paper service.
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Iron County Sheriff’s Office 2013 Annual Report
Other responsibilities of administration include the following:
 Budget
The Sheriff’s Office has two sides to its budget, the road patrol and corrections side. In
addition to general fund revenue the Sheriff’s Office administers 7 grants. These grants
require application, periodic status reports, and year end vouchers. Activities of Deputies
have to be scheduled and monitored to earn these grants. Special equipment to work these
grants must be purchased and maintained. During 2013 the Sheriff Office met his budget
obligation and ended the year with a small budget surplus.
Like most other County Offices, the Sheriff Office generates revenue for the county by
providing services. Paper service, property auctions, fingerprinting services, and housing
county inmates are all responsibilities of the sheriff office that generate revenue. Housing
Department of Correction inmates is not a responsibility of the Sheriff Office but an option
the Office entered into to enhance revenue. During 2013 the Sheriff Office turned over
$63,922 from revenue generated performing their responsibilities. The Sheriff Office turned
over $ 24,594 in collected bond money, and billed $151,270 to Michigan Department of
Corrections for housing State Inmates. Total revenue for 2012 was $239,786.
 Contracts
The Sheriff’s Office maintains 4 contracts to provide correction services. These contracts
cover feeding inmates, providing health care, running and maintaining inmate phone system,
and providing services and commissary. Contracts are annually reviewed to assure that the
County is maintaining its responsibilities in the most cost effective manner. In 2013 the
Sheriff’s Office entered into a new health care provider contract that provides a cheaper rate
of coverage for inmates and better training for corrections staff.
 Emergency Management
Lt Jones and Administrative Assistant Lynda Cross work in the Iron County Emergency
Management Unit. This responsibility requires oversight of the county emergency response
plan, coordination with schools and health providers in Iron County, representing Iron
County on the Region 8 emergency management committee, and conducting exercises to
keep the county compliant with the State of Michigan. Both employees have been trained in
utilization of the State of Michigan Critical Incident Management System (CIMS). In 2013
Iron County benefited from emergency management grants by purchasing a tracked ATV
with trailer and two snowbulances for rescue operations. Since 2007 Iron County has
benefited from Emergency Management Grants for various equipment amounting to
$236,973.
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Iron County Sheriff’s Office 2013 Annual Report
 Civil Process
Iron County Sheriff Office provides civil papers service for government and private entities.
These include summons, subpoenas, orders to seize property, eviction notices, public
postings, and many others. In 2013 Administrative Assistant Lynda Cross logged, tracked
and billed 740 civil process papers that were served by Deputies.
Road Patrol
The Iron County Sheriff’s Office road patrols consists of 6 full time Deputies, 4 part time
Deputies, and are supervised by Sergeant Wade Cross. Deputies respond to calls for service
from the public, serve civil papers, investigate criminal complaints, serve arrest and search
warrants, assist other agencies, engage in mental health protective custody, and transport
individuals to prison. All activity of the deputies initiates with a call for service. Generally calls
for service are a good gauge of activity however complex complaints requiring investigations
need to be considered. In 2013 calls for service were up 71% over 2010, up 20.5% over 2011,
and up 7% over 2012 activity. The activity of the Road Deputies is outlined below:
Calls For Service 2010
Calls for Service 2011
1743
2484
Nature of Call
Sub Total
HOMICIDE
Total
0
ASSAULT
83
SIMPLE ASSAULT
FELONIOUS ASSAULT
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
KIDNAPPING
CSC
ROBBERY
OBSTRUCT/RESISTS
ESCAPE
FUGITIVE /WARRANT ARRESTS
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Calls for Service
2012
2778
18
5
25
5
13
1
8
2
162
Calls for Service
2013
2993
Iron County Sheriff’s Office 2013 Annual Report
TRANSPORTS
MENTAL HEALTH
PRISON
MEDICAL
OTHER AGENCY
OTHER
83
35
8
7
22
11
GENERAL ASSISTANCE PUBLIC
LOCK OUTS
WELL BEING CHECK
OTHER
MEDICAL EMERGENCY
PROPERTY INSP
CIVIL DISPUTES
SUSPIC. SITUATION
CCW APPLICATION
PERMIT TO PURCHASE
FUNERAL ESCORT
797
131
22
328
12
35
30
91
94
52
2
ARSON
2
BURGLARY
59
FORCED ENTRY
W/O FORCE
LARCENY FROM BUILDING
36
7
16
LARCENY
49
FROM VEHICLE
OTHER
5
44
Fraud
46
BAD CHECKS
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Iron County Sheriff’s Office 2013 Annual Report
FALSE PRETENSE
FORGERY
CREDIT CARD
IMPERSONATION
RETAIL
19
2
9
7
2
PROPERTY DAMAGE
29
CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE
22
LIQUOR LAWS
14
INSPECTION
CONTRIBUTING
PUBLIC DRUKENNESS
9
1
4
PUBLIC PEACE
DISORDERLY
WEAPONS
OTHER
FAMILY ISSUES
77
30
4
7
36
VEHICLES
633
OWI
HIT AND RUN
CITATIONS
ACCIDENTS
20
3
257
353
CONSERVATION
TRESPASS
OTHER
38
27
11
DOGS/ANIMALS
203
DEATH/MISSING
23
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Iron County Sheriff’s Office 2013 Annual Report
SUICIDE
NATURAL DEATH
MISSING PERSONS
Assist Other Agencies
7
13
3
541
In addition to the primary responsibility to respond to the public calls for service, the Road Patrol
also offers special services to Iron County Residents. These additional services are outlined
below.
 Evidence Technician
In 2013 Deputy Adam Schiavo joined Deputies Ryan Boehmke, Abe Varoni, Brent
Steinbrecher Brent Benson, and Sgt Wade Cross as evidence technicians after receiving
extensive training on processing crime scenes for trace evidence. The Iron County Sheriff’s
Office provides the service of these deputies to other law enforcement agencies in Iron
County to collect, process, and store evidence utilized to solve crimes in the County.
 Child Safety Seat Service
The Iron County Sheriff’s Office receives a grant from the State of Michigan Office of
Highway Safety and Planning (OHSP) to educate the public in the proper use of vehicle child
safety seats and a service to provide low income families with new safety seat. Deputy Abe
Varoni has been trained by OHSP in child seat safety. In 2013 Deputy Varoni provided two
public education events, met with several individuals to assist in the proper installation of
seats, and has provided and installed 5 new car seats to families in Iron County.
 DARE
Deputy Ryan Boehmke provides DARE substance abuse education to all 6th grade students in
the County. Both schools participate in this program and provide revenue to the County to
support the program. As part of his responsibilities Deputy Boehmke coordinates and runs
the annual DARE golf tournament to provide funding for the program. In 2012 Deputy
Boehmke trained 104 students in Iron County.
 Secondary Road Patrol
Deputies Brent Steinbrecher and Brent Benson spend half of their patrol providing
enforcement and service to visitors and residents by patrolling secondary county roads. This
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Iron County Sheriff’s Office 2013 Annual Report
program is a state funded grant that provides funding to direct patrol to outlying areas of the
County.
 Accident Investigators
Currently Deputy Abe Varoni and Sgt Wade Cross have been trained as accident
investigators. This training has allowed the ICSO to respond to and investigate major
accidents in the county, identifying causes and contributing factors.
 Drug Court/Swift and Sure
Deputy George Pond is the Sheriff’s Office representative on the 95B District Court Drug
Court Program. This program provides an alternative to extensive jail and probation
sentences to participate in a substance abuse support group with oversight by the District
Court. Participants are in the program for one year. In June of 2013 the Iron County Sheriff
Department partnered with the District Court to participate in a new sentencing alternative
for felons with substance abuse problems. This program provides a intensely structured
supervision of individuals that choose to participate in an attempt to reduce recidivism rates.
Deputy Pond provides monitoring of participants in both programs by drug testing, home
visits and interacting with participants. In 2013 there were 294 home visits/checks
completed by the Iron County Sheriff Office. This program is 100% funded by the State of
Michigan.
 Animal Control
Deputy Schiavo is assigned the primary animal control responsibility, and became the point
of contact from the Sheriff Office with the animal shelter and the Health Department. All
Deputies respond to animal control complaints when Deputy Schiavo is not working. In
2013 the Sheriff’s Office handled 203 animal control calls for service.
 Directed Grant Patrols
In 2013 the Iron County Sheriff Office’s was funded by several grants that directed patrols to
specific areas. The Snowmobile grant has a 15% county match. All other grants are 100 %
funded by the State of Michigan and the Federal Government. Patrols allowed Deputies
exposure throughout the County providing an additional layer of enforcement to help
emphasize safe recreation. These patrol included;
o
o
o
o
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Marine Enforcement
ORV Enforcement
Snowmobile Enforcement
USFS Park Patrol
Iron County Sheriff’s Office 2013 Annual Report
Corrections
The Iron County Correctional Facility is staffed by 8 full time and 3 part time Correctional
Deputies. They maintain a clean, efficient modern jail facility which serves our communities
needs well. The primary responsibility of the staff is to keep staff and inmates in a safe and
orderly environment. Jail staff distributes meals, medicine, clothes, personal items, and is in
charge of maintaining all incarceration records. In 2012 the Sheriff Office took on the
MDOC project housing 12 State of Michigan inmates in addition to the county inmates. This
has made their job more complex and demanding. The jail is staffed by two correction
deputies at all times. In 2013 the numbers of bookings were up 11% from 2010 and 22%
over 2011 and 7% over 2012.
2010 Bookings
556
2011 Bookings
509
2012
579
2013
620
Additional services provided by Corrections include:
 Live Scan Service
Correction Deputies schedule finger print services for school employees, legal name change
prints, CCW applicants and many others.
 Trustee Program
Correction Deputies supervise trustee inmates that perform building and grounds
maintenance in and around the County complex.
Training
The Sheriff has maintained his commitment to preparing staff with the tools to provide
professional service to the citizens of Iron County. Annual training is required by Michigan
Council on Law Enforcement to maintain certification. Additional annual training is provided in
areas of high liability. These trainings are provided by the ICSO to all LE agencies in the county
and include Firearms, Taser, and Survival Tactics. In addition to providing patrol supervision
and detective oversight in major investigations, Sgt Wade Cross is the Training Officer and is
responsible to schedule and conduct these trainings.
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Iron County Sheriff’s Office 2013 Annual Report
On the Correction Side of the Sheriff’s Office the State of Michigan requires minimum training
hours annually. This has been achieved providing both in house training and external corrections
training.
Additional Training provided to the Iron County Sheriff’s Office in 2013 included;
 Shooting Simulator
In 2013 the Iron County Sheriff Office provided training on a shooting simulator that
was purchased by Region 8 Emergency Management for Iron County. Sgt Wade
Cross trained Iron County Deputies as well as Crystal Falls PD, Iron River PD, and
Caspian Gaastra PD on the simulator that offers real life shoot/don’t shoot situations.
 Evidence Technician Training
This week long training teaches participants all aspects of finding, collecting and
processing evidence left at crime scenes. In 2012 the Sheriff Office sent two Deputies to
this training and now has five certified evidence technicians.
 Corrections Academy
The State of Michigan requires Correction Deputies to attend an academy and become
certified. In 2013 the Sheriff’s Office sent 3 correction deputies the 4 week academy
class in addition to other in house training. Plans are to send 2 correction deputies in
2014 completing the training requirement for all full time deputies.
 Data Master Training
During 2013 all Deputies attended training on utilization on new Data Master Breath
Machines that were purchased by the State of Michigan to replace old outdated machines.
 Methamphetamine Investigative Training
During 2013 Deputies Brezek and Boehmke attended specialized training in investigating
the illegal and dangerous methods of cooking the illegal drug Methamphetamine.
 Tactical Encounters Training
Deputies Benson and Steinbrecher attended an eight day intense training on tactically
policing dangerous encounters. This training allows deputies the ability to address these
encounters in a safer manner and successfully bring dangerous suspects into custody.
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Iron County Sheriff’s Office 2013 Annual Report
 Precision Driving Training
In May 2013 the Iron County Sheriff Office sent four deputies to Precision Driving
update training in Iron Mountain.
 Death Notification Training
The Sheriff sent three Deputies to Death Notification Training in June of 2013. This
training prepares the Deputies in the sensitive and difficult task of notifying members of
our community that a loved one has died.
 REID Interview and Interrogation Training
Two Deputies were sent to REID training in September. This three day training provides
the Deputies with the tools needed for an effective interview or interrogation. Deputies
possessing this training have more successful investigations.
 Legal Update
All deputies attended 2013 legal update training. This training covers new legislation
new case law that focuses on criminal law, enforcement, search and seizure issues and
their effect on officers in the field.
Outlook to 2014
It is the mission of the Iron County Sheriff Office to provide a safe community for residents and
visitors to live and recreate. The Sheriff Office accomplishes this by being responsive to the
needs of our public, by training our staff to provide the most professional service possible, by
providing a safe environment for our staff to work, and by being fiscally responsible in execution
of our duties.
It is the goal of the Sheriff to continue to expand training for his staff in 2014. The Iron County
Sheriff Office will be sending 2 corrections deputies to the academy during 2013. Training
increases safety for our staff and inmates and also protects the County liability exposure.
It is the goal of the Sheriff Office to partner with Emergency Management and our schools to
improve the safety of our children. Emergency Management is providing safety kits to each
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Iron County Sheriff’s Office 2013 Annual Report
class room in Iron County during 2013. The Sheriff Office will be updating our active shooter
instructor training and will be working with both schools and other enforcement agencies to train
and plan for emergencies in our schools. The Sheriff Office will participate in efforts to provide
more of a presence in our schools during school hours during 2014.
Lastly it is the Sheriff’s Office goal to continue to be as fiscally sound as possible. This is
essential for the Office to provide and maintain professional public safety to Iron County’s
residents. By controlling costs and aggressively seeking new funding and revenue sources the
Sheriff’s Office will continue be a proactive and service oriented organization in our community.
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