Columbiana County Sheriff Brian McLaughlin

LISBON — Columbiana County Sheriff Brian McLaughlin recently reflected on his first term in office, saying he enjoys the job.

His second four-year term, though, is starting off with a cloud overhead due to the uncertainty for the 1% sales tax renewal on the ballot.

As the officeholder receiving the largest chunk from the general fund, which relies heavily on the sales tax, his more than $4 million budget stands to take a large hit if the sales tax fails again.

“I would hope the people would see that the sales tax is needed,” he said.

The majority of the general fund goes to criminal justice, including the sheriff’s office, prosecutor’s office, all the courts, the clerk of courts, probation department and housing of prisoners at the privately-operated county jail.

“I was here when we had the financial issues and the sales tax was not here. We were in dire straits then,” McLaughlin said, adding that if the sales tax fails, “my budget will go half, putting me at staffing levels of the ’80s.”

The main function of the sheriff’s office is to service the courts, with response to calls a secondary function. McLaughlin said his deputies are all aware if the sales tax goes down, there will be layoffs. The sheriff’s office won’t be responding to anything but violence in progress calls. Security provided by the sheriff’s office at the doors of the courthouse, juvenile court and municipal court would have to be figured out.

Talking about what could happen is no scare tactic, McLaughlin said.

“You can’t take $14 million out of the county budget and expect it to survive and function as it should,” he said.

McLaughlin said, “I’m elected to provide a service to the county and it would be impossible to do that without the staffing to do it.”

When he first took office in 2021, he replaced deputies that had not been replaced and said the commissioners graciously allowed him to hire five additional deputies on top of that.

His staff now stands at 31 deputies, including him and the chief deputy, six detectives (two are in the county Drug Task Force), two lieutenants (one is a detective), five sergeants, four school resource officers (paid by the schools), and four deputies working security at the doors to the courthouse, municipal court and juvenile court. There are two K-9s, Jimmy and Diva.

McLaughlin said there have been some recent or future staffing changes, though, with Lt. Mike Helman slated to retire this month and Ryan Pike elevated to the rank of captain. One sergeant is leaving next week for another job.

“We’re finally to the point we have the best staff we’ve ever had and I thank the commissioners for that,” he said.

In looking at the calls handled by the sheriff’s office, they’ve gradually decreased over the last four years, going from 41,445 in 2021 to 39,363 in 2022 to 36,095 in 2023 and then 35,073 in 2024.

McLaughlin acknowledged that calls were slightly down, but some numbers were up in certain areas, such as rapes. The number of rape calls last year totaled 14, which was the same number in 2022. The number in 2023 was nine and in 2021 the number was five. The number of calls for sex offenses was also up, with 61 last year, 44 in 2023, 51 in 2022 and 53 in 2021.

McLaughlin said the department has one detective who focuses on handling the sexual assaults and child crimes.

The number of murders handled by the sheriff’s office has remained about the same at one except for in 2022 when there were three. In 2021, there was one murder with the person responsible convicted. In 2022, there was a body found of a woman from Lorain with her death still unsolved, there was a murder-suicide and there was a murder with the person responsible convicted. In 2023, there was one murder with one person charged and the case pending. In 2024, there was a murder-suicide.

Members of the detective squad also work on the Major Crimes Task Force, helping other communities with some of their major crimes, including murder.

Some other numbers that McLaughlin said stood out were the increase to child abuse calls, with a large jump to 17 in 2024 from seven in 2023 and six each in 2022 and 2021. Domestic calls for domestic violence and domestic disputes increased to 477 from 400 in 2023, but the numbers in 2022 were 500 and in 2021 there were 560. Assaults were down to 101 last year, with 134 in 2023, 92 in 2022, and 121 in 2021.

Burglaries decreased to 64 last year, with 86 in 2023, 64 in 2022 and 120 in 2021.

The biggest number for calls dealt with court paperwork, with 5,698 in 2024, 5,661 in 2023, 5,701 in 2022 and 5,752 in 2021. Other large numbers involved alarm drops, assists of other units, 911 open line investigations, animal-related calls, fuel stops, medicals and accidents.

The sheriff’s fleet includes 31 cruisers plus three spares, three transport vans, four detective vehicles and a vehicle for the Special Response Team known as SRT.

McLaughlin said training increased, with the state having a 24-hour mandate every year. Some of the training sessions included building entries, a grant for training for forensic scenes, with some training in house. Crisis Intervention Training has been done for both deputies and dispatchers, with McLaughlin stressing the importance and how it’s been a priority. Deputies also do scenario training.

As for equipment, McLaughlin said he would like to get a grant for license plate readers.

He talked previously about the importance of transparency with the public and keeping people informed, referring to the department’s social media posts.

He also talked about a need for help from the public, noting that the department can’t be everywhere.

“When you see something out of the ordinary, please call and call when it’s happening,” he said.

mgreier@mojonews.com