Needed improvements are coming to the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office and Jail.

On Monday, the Livingston County Board of Commissioners approved the county’s 2020-2025 capital improvement plan which includes a series of projects that will help at the Sheriff’s Office and Livingston County Jail. Sheriff Mike Murphy says he sees it daily where the public will come in to the field services side of the office only to be pointed to the jail services side and vice versa, causing confusion. That will hopefully change with a forthcoming project that will bring both reception sides together. The sheriff said that it will also help with efficiency in that instead of needing 2 sets of staff to work both sides, employees can now be cross-trained. Bids have put out for the work, and they are waiting for them to come back. Murphy said that due to the complexities of the building in which the work is taking place, being an old jail, construction costs will be more expensive, likely landing around the $1-million mark.

In the jail, a large portion of the cameras will be replaced and updated. Murphy said the existing cameras were purchased 20 years ago and that they have paid for themselves and saved the county a lot of money from potential lawsuits, many times. Also due for an upgrade are the jail’s body scanners. The 2 current ones have been at the jail for a decade, after spending the previous 7 to 10 years at airports with the TSA. Murphy called them “boat anchors” at this point, and “way past obsolescence.” The sheriff said that the new scanners, which will cost roughly $125,000, will bring them up to date with the latest technology. Murphy says that anytime contraband or weapons get smuggled in, that’s a really bad day for not just his staff, but also for the inmates and this will help prevent that. (MK)