Miami County Sheriff's Office
The Situation
Correctional facilities are a hive of activity and visitors. With more than 3,800 inmate intakes per year across two facilities, the Miami County Sheriff’s Office in Troy, Ohio, is all too familiar with the daily buzz.
Of course, inmates aren’t the only people who enter the facilities’ secure areas. Visiting officers and deputies must also be processed and cleared, and items like handguns, knives, and pepper spray must be checked in. Failing to secure such items properly is a major risk to the staff’s safety and the facilities’ security.
“We need to be certain that weapons are secure when our deputies and other officers enter the facilities,” Captain and Jail Administrator Mike Marion said. “We simply can’t have firearms within reach of inmates, and every weapon must be accounted for when an officer isn’t holding it. With this new technology, deputies and officers are able to enter and leave the facilities more quickly and get on with their daily business. Plus, everything is logged, and reports are easy to pull if needed.”
"We realize how important it is to have effective control of keys, especially in our jails. Guardian has changed our facilities for the better."
The Solution
The Miami County Sheriff's Office found an answer in the KeyTrak Guardian system. The Guardian is a modular key and asset management system that supports integrated lockers for securing and tracking items like weapons, cell phones, and more.
An officer can easily log into the system and temporarily secure their items in a locker, ensuring they're the only person who can check the items back out. The ability also allows facility staff members tasked with checking in weapons to focus on other job duties.
The Guardian solved the issue of storing visiting officers' equipment and provided the facility with an enhanced method for managing keys. The system requires authorized users to log in and check out keys, giving senior officers a verifiable audit trail and ensuring keys are returned to the system when they're no longer needed. This audit or logging trail is perfect for state jail inspections.
The Results
Weapons and keys at the Miami County Incarceration Facility, just north of Troy, are now safer and more secure. The system drastically reduces the chances that keys could fall into inmates' hands while also helping the office operate more efficiently and adhere to policies.
The sheriff's office also installed a separate Guardian system for managing keys and storing weapons at its Main Street jail in downtown Troy.
"We realize how important it is to have effective control of keys, especially in our jails," Sheriff Dave Duchak said. "Guardian has changed our facilities for the better."