Belton Pact with Sheriff's Office Kicks Off July 1

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

The partnership with the City of Belton and the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office will kick off July 1, when the county assumes law enforcement duties for Belton.

The city requested the Sheriff’s Office take over policing duties and a result of the challenge of keeping officers in a small town, and other costs associated with running a city police department.

The move will require the Sheriff’s Office to maintain a substation in Belton and provide 10 deputies to the city, including one lieutenant, one sergeant and eight deputies. The actual number of deputies assigned to each shift may vary. This team, which will work exclusively for Belton, will perform duties previously covered by the Belton City Police Department. The move will include all vehicles and uniform insignias will reflect the group that serves Belton.

The city will incur all costs for the substation. Belton will pay $1.2 million annually ($100,000 per month) to Anderson County for costs of the services provided by the Sheriff’s Office, including all vehicle and technical services.

Both the city and the Sheriff’s Office are confident the move will be good for both parties.

Lieutenant RJ Brown, who will head up the Belton team, and Sheriff Chad McBride recapped the agreement in this interview with the Anderson Observer.