COVID plays havoc on Massachusetts county sheriff budgets; overtime costs rise exponentially amid pandemic
Updated Feb 07, 2021;
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“But then, here came the virus,” he said.
Cocchi is the first to admit that, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, overtime spending for the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department went through the roof. By year’s end, the department’s anticipated $200,000 surplus became a $7.4 million deficit. Overtime spending went from $1.3 million in 2019 to $8.6 million in 2020.
That works out to a 571% year-over-year increase.
“That’s a lot of money. Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “That is above and beyond what we normally spend.”
The Maine State Police Department continues to investigate the cause of the crash. Author: Griffin Stockford (NEWS CENTER Maine), Jackie Mundry (NEWS CENTER Maine) Published: 8:03 AM EST February 2, 2021 Updated: 5:21 AM EST February 3, 2021
SANDY RIVER PLANTATION, Maine Two teens were killed and several other people, including a couple in their 70s, were seriously injured in a crash in Sandy River Plantation Monday night.
Around 8:45 p.m., a couple from Cushing Karl Crute, 79, and his wife Laraine Crute, 79 was traveling north on Route 4 in Sandy River Plantation. At the same time, a car driven and occupied by Kaylee Knight, 18, of Chesterville and four teenage passengers was traveling south. The two vehicles collided and as a result, two of the passengers in the vehicle driven by Knight were killed:
Tue, 02/02/2021 - 8:30am
The Maine Office of Public Safety reported that Karl Crute, 79, and his wife Laraine Crute, 79, of Cushing, remain hospitalized following a crash on Route 4 in Sandy River Plantation.
The report said:
“On February 1, 2021, at approximately 8:45 p.m., a gray 2017 Toyota Avalon, driven and occupied by Karl Crute, 79, and his wife Laraine Crute, 79, from Cushing, were traveling north on Route 4 in Sandy River Plantation when a black 2009 Pontiac G6 was traveling south, driven and occupied by Kaylee Knight, 18, of Chesterville and four teenaged passengers.
“The two vehicles struck each other and as a result two of the passengers in the vehicle driven by Knight were killed: Thomas Deckard-Madore, 17, of Strong; and Michaela Morgan, 15, of Phillips.
Maine State Police investigating deaths of 2 people found inside Franklin County home
The bodies of a male and a female were found inside the home on the Havey Road in New Sharon.
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Police checking on the well-being of a New Sharon resident found the bodies of two adults inside a home on Havey Road on Monday morning, according to a statement from Katy England, spokeswoman for the Maine State Police.
State police troopers and a Franklin County Sheriff’s Department deputy went to the home around 9:40 a.m. and discovered the bodies of one man and one woman.
Crime scene technicians and analysts from the Maine State Police Evidence Response Team spent most of the day and evening at the residence. Detectives from the Major Crimes Unit South are investigating the circumstances of their deaths.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Officials in Ohio s largest city said Thursday that they plan to invest $4.5 million in body-worn cameras for police and introduce a law that would ensure officers use the cameras correctly after the fatal shooting of Andre Hill last month by a white officer.
“While many of us woke up this morning with a renewed sense of purpose and optimism, a new year and a new president does not erase the past or the pain felt by those who loved Casey Goodson Jr. or Andre Hill,” Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said in a briefing Thursday.
Ginther and other city officials announced the plans to address policing issues reawakened by the fatal shooting of Goodson and Hill, both Black men, at the hand of law enforcement in Columbus in a matter of weeks.