News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Van Buren County Jail will create a new training space in its facility thanks to a training grant it received from the Tennessee Corrections Institute.
Jail Administrator Jessica Grissom said the grant is for just under $15,000 and will be used to set up a new computer training area in the jail’s tower. She said any training now is done in the same area where officers book residents after an arrest.
“It’s in the way really, because if somebody’s arrested we have to, they’re sitting in booking, and we have an employee that would be sitting there booking them in, taking their pictures, getting their fingerprints,” Grissom said. “So this will allow us to put everything up in the tower to be able to have training events up there.”
Grissom said the money will be spent on the desks, computers, chairs, and other equipment needed for the new space. She also said they will purchase tables and chairs for the squad room to allow for more in-house training.
“We’ll just have the computers and the desks and everything set up for them to do their online training up there, because there’s a lot of online training that we do,” Grissom said.
Grissom said the grant is a reimbursement grant, meaning the jail has to spend the money first, and then turn in receipts to get paid back through the grant.
“In order to do that, we have to increase the expenditure line item so we can spend money first, and then put the money back into the revenue code for the county to get the money back,” Grissom said.
Van Buren County Commissioners approved the use of the funds at their November 21 meeting.
