Arrangement huge bargain for Albemarle

By: The Daily Progress | The Daily Progress
Published: December 01, 2010

We’d say that Albemarle County is getting plenty of bang for its buck — except that wouldn’t be right.

The reality is even better.

There’s plenty of bang, but no buck, in a new arrangement between the county’s sheriff’s department and commonwealth’s attorney’s office.

A highly qualified volunteer from the sheriff’s office is assisting the prosecutor by investigating what are called “crossed warrants.” That’s what happens when two (sometimes more) people file warrants accusing one other of minor crimes, such as abusive language or assault and battery.

The warrants are filed at the magistrate’s office. The offenses are not serious enough to involve the police; but they still must be prosecuted, and that takes up time in the prosecutor’s office.

Magistrates are the first line of judgment when they determine whether a warrant is justified or not. If the warrant is issued, however, further details often are needed to determine guilt or innocence.

And they’re not always easy to unravel. Sometimes both parties are guilty. Sometimes one party slips a story past the magistrate and takes out a warrant simply to get back at his accuser.

Tackling this problem is a sheriff’s department volunteer, retired systems analyst and former forensics investigator Tom Loach.

Mr. Loach already was a reserve deputy when he took his idea for warrant investigation to the department. Sheriff J.E. “Chip” Harding was perfectly willing to lend Mr. Loach to the prosecutor’s office — after all, that office already helps the department by instructing officers on the legal use of force as part of a handguns class.

Mr. Loach is now the commonwealth’s attorney’s only warrants investigator.

His volunteer time saves the county money. Cases of any type that have the benefit of investigation “seem to go smoother,” said Mr. Harding, an observation that suggests the commonwealth’s attorney’s office therefore needs less staff time to resolve cases.

Mr. Loach himself proposes that his involvement might help keep the complainants honest. It’s good for them to know that someone is paying attention, he says.

All of this comes for free. Indeed, Mr. Loach and other volunteers pay for their own uniforms.

That’s quite a bargain for law enforcement and justice in Albemarle. Thanks to Mr. Loach and the two cooperating departments for this innovation.