Grandy Jury Recommendation Report

Twin States News spoke with Sherriff “Billy” Sollie and Police Chief Deborah Young after the Circuit Court of Lauderdale County released a final citing of investigations and recommendations for both departments.

Overall, the county jail received a favorable judgment with the recommendation of bringing in more staff.

"We're certainly pleased with this grand jury report, but it also said we need additional personnel, and we understand that they are both on the law enforcement side, and the correctional side. The board of supervisors have been very gracious in helping us, particularly in the area of corrections, by increasing the starting salary. Over the last six weeks, we've had a number of persons come to work for us, and we're excited about that."- Lauderdale Co., Sheriff Sollie

The Meridian Police Department received recommendations for improvements in the areas of training in case investigations, report writing, collection of evidence, and more.

"As far as the training, our detectives and our officers are allowed and given training throughout the year. They have taken interview and interrogation training. They are scheduled for more training this year; as far as next year when our hours are also due because officers have to have so many hours per year for their training."- Police Chief Deborah Young

Chief Young also stated that questions posed by the grand jury were from cases from the past administration, and many of the officers in those cases are no longer employed by the police department.