Both the Jasper County Emergency Management Agency and Jasper County Sheriff’s Department are currently looking into a situation that is costing the county money and is critical to area emergency responders and law enforcement.
According to Jasper County EMA Deputy Director Hudson Jenkins, a number of county road signs recently have been stolen all throughout the county. Just last week, approximately 14 road signs were recovered by the Sheriff’s Department on the property of a local residence.
Jenkins explained the cost to replace a stolen road sign is around twenty dollars, and that does not include the labor of creating the sign and putting the sign back in place. Even more important, residents, visitors to the county, and especially emergency officials rely on those signs to navigate throughout the county.
“It is very important (for these signs to be in place). Even people that live here, still struggle finding places sometimes, especially visitors,” he said. “Ambulances, fire departments and law enforcement also rely heavily on them to find where they are going. They need those signs in place. A lot of times emergency responders rely on Google maps to help, but sometimes it’s wrong. Many times they have to fall back on our county maps and county road signs. If a sign is not in place, they could pass by a road and never know it. That could cost a lot of minutes with life saving. If you were to have a medical emergency or have a fire and the road sign is missing, the first responders could have trouble locating you. Every second counts in an emergency.”
Jenkins went on mention there are penalties for stealing road signs.
“I spoke with the Sheriff on what kind of charges can be pressed for stealing signs, and he said if you are caught in possession of signs or are caught stealing them the county can charge violators with petit larceny or destruction of county property,” he said.
The missing signs recovered last week have been replaced, and Jasper County EMA is asking for the public’s help in keeping them in place.
“If you see someone stealing or removing county road signs, we ask that you please report it to the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department. Be sure to include any description of the person committing the act,” explained Jenkins. “If you see a missing county road sign, please report it to the Jasper County Emergency Management at 601-764-3800, so that we can replace the sign.”