Dunklin County Sheriff prioritizes transparency and community trust in new term

Not much change is in the works at the Dunklin County Sheriff's Office.

Except the sheriff's desire to provide more transparency from his office to residents by social media and his wish to garner more trust from kids by reaching further into schools.

And uniforms.

Dunklin County Sheriff Nick Darter spoke to Kiwanians and guests at Wednesday's meeting of the Kennett Kiwanis Club.

"A lot of people have asked, 'What are you going to change at the sheriff's office?'" he said. "Well, there's not much TO change at the sheriff's office.

"Our job is to maintain peace," he continued. "Our job is to maintain confidence while you guys are out at Walmart or out to eat or whatever. Change-wise, there's not going to be much change, except I want to be more transparent to the citizens of Dunklin County."

Darter said the community might become more aware of the sheriff's office activities via social media.

"We've got a Facebook Page," the sheriff noted. "If you have Facebook, add us.

"Every Monday, we put out a news release about what took place within the last seven days," he emphasized. "It kind of goes over some stuff that I did today, like the numbers of incident reports, calls for service, arrests, traffic stops, and so forth."

The office's Feb. 10 report stated that its personnel fielded 172 calls for service, conducted 37 traffic stops, wrote 34 reports, affected 13 arrests, conducted 23 civil processes, and conducted one sex offender compliance check during the previous week.

Reaching kids and gaining their trust might be a challenge.

However, Darter has worked with children his entire law-enforcement career.

From the northern end of the county to the southern most, Darter said he's encouraging his deputies "to get more involved" with the schools.

"From Southland all the way to Malden and everybody in between," he told Kiwanians. "I've reached out to almost every school in the county.

"And we've attended (functions at) every school in the county," he continued. "Just to show up. I want to access those schools. I want to be able to walk right into the lunchrooms and talk to those kids. The kids are our future. You guys know that. You do a lot with the kids, and I'm very appreciative of that."

With the change of administrations, from 28-year veteran Dunklin County Sheriff Bob Holder's to Darter's, perhaps the most visible modification is its future attire.

"We are going to change uniforms," Darter said. "The new uniforms will be a different color."

"New uniforms are gray tops with black pants and gray stripes," the sheriff continued. "Our patches aren't going to change, except for the colors. They'll be a grayish scale. We've got a guy coming down on Wednesday to fit everybody for uniforms. So, within the next couple of months, you should see the new uniforms."

Darter's personnel lineup is average for a county Dunklin's size. Darter's 39 full-time employees, including less than a dozen road deputies, cover approximately 542 square miles, with 52.2 people populating every one according to the 2020 Census, and its length from Malden to Hornersville is about 41 miles.

"The sheriff's office is made up of one captain, one lieutenant, and 10 road deputies that provide 24-hour coverage to the county," Darter said. "And cities within the county.

"We have one officer assigned to the SEMO Drug Task Force," he continued. "Two office employees, one maintenance employee, a jail administrator, 19 corrections officers, one court bailiff, and a guy who does security at the front door of the justice center. With all that being said, we've got 39 full-time employees."

At any given time, there are two deputies on duty 24-7, the sheriff explained.

"Their shifts are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m." Darter said. "And we have a mid car.

"So between 10 o'clock and 10 o'clock, you'll have three deputies on at all times," he continued. "There are times we don't have a south end car or a north end car. Ideally, if you had three deputies on at once, you'd have a south-end car, a mid car, and a north-end car. We're not to that point yet on every shift."

And Darter dispelled rumors that indicated he planned moving the sheriff's office from its home base at Kennett or was funding the construction of satellite bureaus, both north and south of Kennett.

"I'm from Malden," the sheriff explained. "We communicated.

"Malden PD is available at any time for any deputies," Darter continued. "There's an internet connection there, and every deputy has a laptop with internet capabilities. So, for them to get off the road and go into a secure building, they can do that at Malden."

At the county's south end, Darter noted Cardwell is preparing for a city election.

"Once that's over, I'm sure they'll open up the door for us at Cardwell," he said. "As far north and as far south as you can get, the guys have got places where the door has always been open.

"They don't have an office," he said of his road deputies. "But they have a room they can use to write reports. I think the money spent to build bureaus is unnecessary."

Between Jan. 1 and Wednesday, when Darter parked his vehicle at the meeting, the sheriff's office answered 5,217 calls for service, he told the group.

"In those 5,217 calls for service, we wrote 155 incident reports," Darter said. "And 90 percent of those are criminal cases.

"Some are just informational reports," he added. "Just to kind of have some background if something happens in the future."

In addition to his duties as commanding officer of the county's law-enforcement personnel, Darter's responsibilities extend to jail operations, its management, and maintenance.

"We have a 185-bed facility," Darter said. "And we currently have 174 inmates in custody."

Crimes committed by inmates range from petty theft on the low side of the scale to murder on the far side, the sheriff noted.

"We've got at least seven or eight individuals in jail right now on murder charges," Darter said. "And not just murder charges in Dunklin County. We house people from other counties as well."

The Dunklin County Sheriff's Office at 1175 Floyd, St., Kennett, is always open, and its phone at 573.888.2424 is always staffed.

For emergencies, dial 911, the sheriff said.

The jail at the Dunklin County Justice Center complex may be reached at 573.888.1000, according to internet records.

Kiwanians Youth Basketball program is ongoing, and soccer leagues form in Spring.

The Kennett Kiwanis Club meets at noon every Wednesday at the Grecian Steakhouse of Kennett.

For more information about the club, please visit https://kennettkiwanisclub.org/, or its Facebook page.