Oak Ridge Today

Sheriff’s Department has county-wide Neighborhood Watch meeting on Tuesday

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Neighborhood Watch Logo

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The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department will be holding a county-wide Neighborhood Watch meeting at the Clinton Middle School auditorium at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The meeting will highlight the success of Neighborhood Watch and the dedicated volunteers who have contributed so much to reducing crime. A presentation will demonstrate how the department’s crime analysis and crime mapping aids citizens in keeping neighborhoods safe.

Neighborhood Watch is one of the oldest and most effective crime prevention programs in the country, bringing citizens together with law enforcement to deter crime and make communities safer. Throughout the county, there are some 30 Neighborhood Watch groups keeping a close eye on their community. [Read more…]

Crime down 25 percent in Anderson County in two years, sheriff says

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The total number of crimes reported to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department has dropped by about 25 percent in the past two years, Sheriff Paul White said.

He said overall crimes decreased by an even larger percentage, roughly 35 percent, from 2007 to 2012. Crimes against property, such as burglaries and thefts, fell about 20 percent over two years and close to 30 percent since 2007.

“This drop in overall crime can be directly attributed to proactive law enforcement and increased patrols of the rural areas of the county,” White said in a Monday press release. [Read more…]

DA: Crime down a ‘remarkable’ 10.5 percent in Anderson County

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Dave Clark

Dave Clark

The number of crimes reported in Anderson County dropped again last year, continuing a six-year trend, District Attorney General Dave Clark announced Monday.

Crime was down 10.5 percent in Anderson County in 2012, Clark said.

“That is a remarkable result in a single year,” he said. [Read more…]

Judges say resigning jail alternatives director made ‘no real attempt’ to work with them

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Mike Baker

Mike Baker (Photo by D. Ray Smith)

Note: This story was updated March 31 to add a link to the judge’s letter.

Mike Baker, the director of Anderson County’s alternatives to jail program, was critical of the judiciary and the county mayor when he announced his resignation last week, saying he didn’t have their support.

This week, though, three Anderson County judges said Baker, whose last day is April 4, had made “no real attempt” to work with them. When Baker started his job about a year ago, they said, he lacked knowledge of Tennessee laws related to prisoner release programs, and he had no relevant experience in the state or Anderson County. [Read more…]

Guest column: Anderson County court, criminal prosecution programs at risk

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Dave Clark

Dave Clark

Proposals to redistrict Tennessee’s 31 judicial districts may cost Anderson County its full-time judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and their staffs. Proponents want to jumble 15 of Tennessee’s 31 judicial districts containing the state’s 95 counties. The pending proposal would eliminate the 7th Judicial District consisting of Anderson County and combine Anderson, Scott, Union, Campbell, Claiborne, and Fentress counties into a single district. If the move is approved in Nashville, local officials and their offices may be relocated, and many other programs may be terminated.

Currently, Anderson County has a single circuit judge, chancellor, district attorney general, and public defender. All of these offices are located in the county seat in Clinton on a full-time basis. The other counties that are part of the proposed new super-district are headquartered in Scott County in the city of Huntsville, Tenn. It is unclear if redistricting would result in all of Anderson’s current officials relocating to Huntsville. However, what is clear is that under the proposal, Anderson County officials would have duties in other counties, some of them an hour or more away, such as Jamestown, the county seat of Fentress County, located on the Cumberland Plateau bordering Kentucky.

[Read more…]