By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Sure, police dogs have great noses for sniffing out crime, and command community adoration. But they do have their limits. They can’t work 24 hours a day, and they can’t sniff out hidden weapons.
So instead of acquiring a canine to scan inmates entering the Wood County jail, the sheriff’s office has purchased a full-body scanning system.
The scanner was purchased with $118,000 in jail commissary funds, from inmates purchasing snacks or toiletry items.
The Soter RS body scanner shows if an inmate is trying to smuggle drugs, small weapons such as razor blades, or cell phones into the jail. The searches are much less invasive, and less unpleasant than strip and cavity searches for both the inmates and the jail personnel.
According to Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn, Wood County Justice Center is the third county jail in Ohio to have such technology.
Upon arriving at the jail, each inmate will go through the 10-second X-ray scanning procedure. The scan shows any foreign objects in the stomach or body cavities, or any items that may have been missed during a pat down by officers.
“It’s more thorough than TSA scanners,” at airports, Wasylyshyn said.
Inmates will also go through the scans when they return from furloughs or court hearings, “just in case someone, somehow passed something to them,” he said.
The decision to get a body scanner came after changes in the state that allow more serious criminals to be housed for longer periods in county jails, the sheriff said.
“The type of inmates here have changed over the years.”
The jail has also been the site of a couple overdoses by inmates, in cases where it hasn’t been determined if the prisoner had already taken the drugs prior to being jailed, or used them after being booked. Wasylyshyn said the scanning should rule out that the drugs were transported in by inmates.
“Once the inmates know this is going on, the word will get out,” and attempts to smuggle drugs or weapons into the jail will decrease, the sheriff said.
