| Updated: 3/31/2009 8:38 am |
Published: 3/30/2009 8:09 pm |
Saline County is doubling the amount of officers available to respond to an emergency. Starting next week, Bryant police officers will be deputized.
"We feel like this would be the best way to give better public service to the community," says Bryant Police Chief Tony Coffman.
"It's important due to the fact that on a good day we'll have five deputies when we're talking 728 square miles," says Saline County Sheriff Bruce Pennington.
"The Sheriffs department can have someone clear on the other side of the county we might be talking 20, 30 minutes response time, to my 3 or 4 minutes," says Coffman. Pennington adds, “They will be able to respond, hold the scene, until we arrive."
Glenn Saffle lives just outside of Bryant with his wife and three kids.” I think it's important for our safety. If anything happens out here I would like for them to be able to get here quick and Bryant is the closest one to us, so I'm grateful for that."
"The public safety and their well being is what we're here for," Pennington says. "I want it to be known, you come to Saline County, whether in Benton, Bryant, Haskell, Shannon Hills, whatever, you're going to jail. If you want to commit crimes, do it in another county, we're not going to welcome you here."
"We're all in the same business, we just wear a different uniform, but we're all out here to protect and serve the public," says Coffman.
The 32 officers will be sworn in as deputies next Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Sheriff says other police departments including Benton police will join the effort.
