Fallen: Deputy Jason Action & Jail Supervisor Leon Egley

[Rebecca]

The Deputy and the Jailer died together today...

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*Deputy Sheriff Jason Acton
Randolph County Sheriff's Department, MO

Cause of Death: Gunfire
End of Watch: June 22, 2000
Date of Incident: June 22, 2000
Time of Incident: 0045 hours
Age: 36
Tour of Duty: 2 mo
Suspect Info: Both arrested later in the day
Weapon Used: Handgun

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Jail Supervisor Leon Egley
Randolph County Sheriff's Department, MO

Cause of Death: Gunfire
End of Watch: June 22, 2000
Date of Incident: June 22, 2000
Time of Incident: 0045 hours
Age: 33
Tour of Duty: Unknown
Suspect Info: Both arrested later in the day
Weapon Used: Handgun

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Deputy Jason Acton and Jail Supervisor Leon Egley were shot and killed during an attempted jail break of rural Randolph County Jail. At approximately 0045 hours a man and women rang the night buzzer at the jail. After being let in, the suspects opened fire on the two deputies, killing them both. Following department regulations, both officers were unarmed while in the jail. There was no barrier separating the deputies from visitors in the lobby. The two suspects were attempting to free a friend who was incarcerated in the jail. After being unable to find keys for the cell, the two suspects fled, but were arrested in Kansas later in the day. Deputy Acton had been with the agency for two months.

*as reported by the ODMP

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May both of these men rest in peace... and may God offer their families the strength to see them through this tragedy.

http://www.officer.com/ubb/frown.gif

[Rebecca]

This may sound really stupid, but I've never heard an explanation on this...

Can someone tell me why in some of the areas in a jail... especially those that are heavily occupied by many CO's at one time (such as booking)... why the CO's are not allowed to carry guns? Or... why the Deputies have to disarm themselves when entering the jail? (Am I wrong about that... do they have to disarm themselves?)

Someone... make sense of this for me, please.

It seems to me that there isn't much left in the line of defending yourselves against the threat of another gun should this worse case scenario come true like it did for these two men. I'm sure there is a logical answer to this, but I think I need someone to point it out to me.

I need to have some sense made out of this... as I feel both of these men were placed senselessly in harm's way. Please tell me that I am wrong.

[klar]

Rebecca,

In my experiance of going into a jail or prison you usually have a population of way more inmates than officers having a firearm in that type of situation is asking it to be taken away by force and used against you or another officer. It is much better to have no firearms introduced to a jail type setting. It is sad that something like these two senseless murders have came about but if firearms were a commmon place in a jail type setting I think there would be more reports like this. I hope that the two responsible are fried.

I hope I have answered your question Rebecca.
Keep up the postings

Klar

Be safe out there

[7@NGHS]

Rebecca,

Klar is right on that point. Even patrol officers who bring someone in to booking have to secure their weapon.

The problem I see here is like most rural counties with small jails. There is no "safe" zone for a recepion area when dealing with the public. In modern jails, or I should say detention centers, when you walk in you find yourself having to look and speak through holes in lexan(bullet-proof glass) and all the doors, except the one you came in is locked. In most cases when you go deeper into the facility you pass through metal detectors before you ever come in close proximity to an officer.

This definitely is another of many a tradjedy.

St. Michaels' Army grows larger.



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Eddie

[JKT]

Rebecca; In our facility (average population 760), you can enter from the street without going thruogh a locked door. However, the master control center has a view out the doors (through lexan) and you have to aproach a reception desk which is also shielded by lexan to talk to a Deputy, narrowing the chance of something like this happening.
A detention facility in somewhat like a medical facility. There are "clean" areas and "sterile" areas. The clean areas are the transition areas where officers can secure their weapons and their prisoners cannot get out without going through a secure door. The sterile areas are where the inmates (arrestees) are housed. No weapons are allowed because of the reasons stated above.
I hope this helps explain things.

This was a tragedy, that shouldn't have happened. Hopefully the administration of this facility will correct this situation.

As always, our prayer are with the families of these souls.

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Good luck and be safe

Jack

[This message has been edited by JKT (edited 06-23-2000).]

[Rebecca]

Thanks gentlemen.

More questions: what sort of protection do the CO's get to carry with them, if any? I mean, if they don't have guns, do they have pepper spray or an ASP? Is it just handcuffs and a radio... and do all of them carry them? Are they more dependant on just cameras and look-outs?

I know I must sound very ignorant on this subject, but the truth is... I guess I am. I never really thought about how safe the CO's are within a facility full of criminals.

I appreciate you're helping me to get a better view of what goes on.

[JKT]

Our Jail is an older design, not the more open "pod" style. The officers have very little direct contact with the general population. The largest group of inmates that SHOULD be together at one time is about 16, and this is usually either in the kitchen or laundry (staffed with working inmates) or getting a docket call list together and there are usually 6-8 officers in the immediate area (and more available).

THe officers carry hancuffs,keys and a radio, no weapons, but the line supervisors do carry OC. The majority of the time there is a set of bars between the officers and the inmates. I guess I should mention that a shift consists of 32 officer plus 4 line supervisors, a Sgt and an Lt (shift commander).

There are dangers and you should be alert at all times, but someone with common sense and a sense of security, there normally won't be a problem.

Sorry to be so long-winded (for me, anyway)


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Good luck and be safe

Jack

[This message has been edited by JKT (edited 06-24-2000).]

[Tackleberry]

My heartfelt condolences go out to these Officer's families, they have paid the ultimate price in the line of duty and may they rest in peace. The state should go after the death penalty for these scumbags as they killed Law Enforcement Officer's in the line of duty. I know what these officer's mean when they say they needed beefed up security. Even inside the most secure place as a prison the main entrance that is available to the public is open feely in most prison's as it is in ours. I understand that they rang the bell and were let in. We had an incident several years back when an EDP entered our lobby waving around a machete, he was sprayed with OC and it took 4 rather large and strong officer's to restrain him. Since this incident the lobby officer's station is secured with a bandit barrier. At 2300hrs our doors are locked and we also have an intercom and camera to screen visitors, unless the visitors are expected the door does not open. Several times there have been emergencies with cars breaking down or victims of crime thinking we are the police station, our police are right next door to us so we get alot of their business, no pun intended. In all other instances in the past a LT. or SGT. has gone out to the Secure officer booth and allowed them to come into the lobby to deal with an after hours situation. Other prisons need to learn from this mistake and make their lobby's more secure from this ever happening again.

As far as your question concerning firearms inside jails...as stated earlier there are places where they are permitted and places where it is a big no-no! Inmates outnumber officers something like in our jail 96-1 and to be honest even if we were allowed firearms inside an area like this I still wouldn't. I could tell you right now you would have several hostage situations as well as officer disarming and shootings occur if this were to ever happen. The way it is right now is best, most officers do not have any weapons other then handcuffs and a radio or man-down pager believe it or not officer assaults are low in our jail (1500pop) and I can tell you alot of this is due to respecting people who are in jail. Supervisors do carry OC and in our jail members of the Emergency Response team which I am a member of may carry OC, ASP's and handheld Ebids. The only time we are armed with firearms is when on transport or outside the facility doing parimeter duty. The only time firearms would be in our secure facility is during certian extreme situations like riots or hostage incidents and this would be done by our ERT. Again it is very sad what has happened but let's not forget these men!

Stay Safe!
Tac

[Rebecca]

Again... thank you so much for coming forward to enlighten me and help me to understand. And yes, the answers really are obvious, aren't they? Decisions are made to keep you as safe as you can be... and I am thankful to see that they are mostly working for you. I appreciate you taking the time, gentlemen.

I know the Deputy and the Jailer are with God in Heaven... and I know God will look out for their families and help by giving them strength.

God bless all of you.



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***Rebecca***

[This message has been edited by Rebecca (edited 06-26-2000).]