What do you think??

You guys all have great points. I had a lot of time to think about staffing this week, when I sat by myself all week on a "two officers required policy" hospital detail. There are definatley staffing problems within most correctional facilities in this state. I had an opportunity to work with guys from the State, Norfolk, Suffolk and Hampden this week, and the same issues all came up: No time off and unsafe staffing levels. To make things worse, administrators are doing the wrong thing by cutting costs by reducing staffing in plain conflict with departmental policy. Someone is going to get hurt.
With that said, I do not fault any of the officers who serve on this Middlesex team, because if given the opportunity to do something interesting like that, I might take the chance myself. But I can tell you that that money could be better spend elsewhere. Nearly all of the funding for Sheriff's departments in this state comes from the state (notice nearly all, not all). If departments have enough fat in their budget to fund special units, then their budgets should be re-dispersed to help other departments who are struggling. Remember, this is state money now, no longer county money.
If the money from this comes from specialized grants, then the water becomes a bit murky. The jury is still out on my end, on whether Sheriff's departments should be receiving and using these grants. I haven't heard all the facts yet. However, if this money is coming out of the general operating fund, then maybe we need to find a Middlesex officer and ask him if he feels that staffing levels are safe within his facility? if he is getting his time off? or is it being denied?
I don't think anybody is in a situation in this state right now where they need to be expanding. I think someday it is possible that it will be ok for Sheriff's departments to expand into law enforcement, but only when corrections, our primary function, is being done correctly.

PBC,

To answer your question, people who mainly work inside the facility are sworn as Deputy Sheriff's for a few reasons. The main reason for most is so that they can work details outside of work. Others are sworn because they work in law enforcement type positions within the facility, for example outside perimeter security, security investigations, transportation, outside hospital runs. Because of "just in case" purposes, guys who work outside jobs are generally (not always) Deputy Sheriff's as well. The main reason however, is detail work. Everyone who is sworn by the department as a Deputy Sheriff, has full arrest authority as given by Massachusetts statute and case law. Not all employees are considered Deputy Sheriffs. You can generally tell the difference by the badges we wear. Deputies will wear the star, while corrections officers wear the shield type badge.

In general, I can understand why these warrant teams are being formed. There are a lot of towns who do not have the manpower to serve all of their warrants, and need someone to come in and do it. I'm just not sure if the Sheriff's Departments are the right group to be doing it. Again, staffing levels are unsafe, in our main responsibility: the jails and houses of correction. Money given to the department should be spent to provide safety for our officers. If there is anything left over after that, then maybe it would be ok to start new projects such as these teams. However, I think you will be hard pressed to find a department in this state that has enough staffing and equipment to run their facility safely and efficiently. I'm concerned that some of these teams are being formed out of political grandstanding and headline grabbing by the Sheriff's, and in the end they are putting their staff in danger.

PBC and MT1,

I'm not sure if you guys are talking about the same sort of intellegence. I think PBC is referring to intellegent staff members, and I think MT1 is referring to the intellegence information type intellegence. I could be wrong though.
MT1 is right about intellegence though. Send it where it belongs. The jail is a good source of intellegence, especially on gangs and drugs. This is where the bad guys all get together and talk shop. We pass all our stuff on to our Security Investigations guys. They liason with either our law enforcement end (part of a federal task force) or with outside agencies as necessary.
I would actually like to see more criminal prosecutions within the facility. For some reason or another, our facility shys away from charging inmate except in major incidents. I have requested charges be brought through a disciplinary report in a few situations, and have been declined. I've looked at more proactive departments, such as New York City Department of Correction, which re-arrests and books it's inmates frequently, and it has had a strong affect on the level of violence and drugs in it's facilities.