May 2020 News from Your Sheriff

May 3, 2020 through May 9, 2020 is National Correctional Officer Week.  This is to honor the men and women who exemplify professionalism, integrity, and strength in the face of a difficult and often dangerous work environment.  Correctional Officers nationwide have a thankless job but play a vital role in the criminal justice system.  Correctional Officers keep our community safe.  Clare County Correctional Officers work 12-hour shifts, spending half of their days within the walls of our jail.  I want to thank each and every one of our Officers working behind the scenes, keeping our county community safe.  It takes a dedicated, and professional individual to work in this field.  Thank you!

During the month of April there were 2,094 incidents loaded for the entire county of Clare.  There were 7 Home Invasion/Attempted Home Invasions reported in the county during April with 3 in Hayes, and one each in Harrison, Clare, Frost, and Freeman.  We currently have 107 people in our jail which consist of 59 Local, 1 renter, 7 Diverted Felons, 1 MDOC, and 39 Federal.  If you hadn’t noticed the number of people incarcerated in our jail is very low compared to previous months.  This is mainly due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.  Our courts haven’t been in session since this all began, so no one has been sentenced to jail in over 6 weeks.  All transfers between facilities were halted in order to stop the spread of the virus.  Along with that, the Federal Court system also shut down at the beginning of this. 

We are still handling calls by phone and responding to the ones that actually need police presence.  We will continue to do this in the future until the threat of this virus is gone.  We have had no employees or inmates infected with this virus as of this time.  We continue to screen all people coming into our jail.  We are not up to full staff for the road patrol as of this time.  We have hired one Deputy who was put on hold during the police academy because of the pandemic.  He has 3 weeks to finish then will go into our Field Training Program.  Deputy Dan Parks will be coming to the law enforcement side from our corrections department.  He will be starting FTO this following week.  Good luck to the both of you.

To the Farwell, Clare, and Harrison Class of 2020 graduates, CONGRATULATIONS from all of us here at the Clare County Sheriff Office.  I wish each and every one of you the best in your future.  You will be known as the Covid19 class sadly, but on a positive note you are part of Generation Z.  The young adults destined to inherit the earth after the millennials, having a great desire to change the world and make it a better place.

Like Always, GOD Bless

Sheriff John S Wilson