County residents needing help with law enforcement issues in their communities have a new resource to turn to at the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office on Wednesday announced the creation of the Community Response Team (CRT), a newly-formed group of uniformed deputies tasked with supplementing the activities of patrol deputies in addressing chronic and identifiable criminal issues that residents report to law enforcement — especially in the fight against drugs.

Under the direction of Lt. Matthew Bales, the five-member group began working as a response unit in mid-March. In that time, it has been responsible for a combined 101 arrests, leading sheriff Matt Gentry to formally reveal the CRT to the public at a press conference on Wednesday. In addition to Bales, the unit consists of Sgt. Terry Smith, Deputy Jesse Cummings, Deputy Cheryl Hawkins, and Deputy Nick Watkins.

Gentry said the thinking behind forming the CRT is to streamline community enforcement as patrol deputies handle an increasing volume of service calls, and to give residents a visible group of enforcement officers, so that people can bring the problems in their communities before the sheriff’s office — and then get a response from recognizable faces.

“The thought process behind it is, we are handling around 67,000 calls a year,” said Gentry. “When I first took office, we were handling about 40,000. Cullman County is growing, and with the current staff we have, we’re looking at different ways to make sure we’re serving our citizens as effectively and efficiently as we can.

“If it’s a matter of drug enforcement; a drug dealer in your community, they’ll do whatever it takes to put that drug dealer in jail. If there’s an area of road where you live where people are speeding, they can focus on that to supplement our deputies on patrol. They can go out and work burglaries and thefts, and they can serve warrants. In fact, some of the arrests we’ve already made with this group have been warrant arrests. This team allows us to go out and have extra resources to focus on all those types of problems. Having them there to work with residents in their communities helps our deputies who are out on regular patrol.”

Giving residents peace of mind that the sheriff’s office is present and visible where they live is also part of the thinking behind the CRT, added Gentry.

“If you think about something like conventional narcotics enforcement, a lot of times having that visual of a deputy in uniform, in addition to a plainclothes narcotics investigator, coming and helping you solve your problem — it gives that neighborhood a sense of peace. It’s kind of a non-traditional thing, but it’s vey effective if it’s used correctly.”

While narcotics enforcement is the CRT’s primary focus, the group’s mission is to tackle any type of criminal activity that’s affecting a particular community. “Any law enforcement officer will tell you that arresting and solving drug-related crimes will also solve thefts, burglaries, etc., as they often run together,” the sheriff’s office stated in an accompanying release.

Assembled on March 14 at the start of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the team’s 101 arrests have yielded drug seizures including approximately 1 pound of methamphetamine, 2 pounds of marijuana, 4 grams of heroin, and 4 ounces of perception opioids, according to the sheriff’s office.

For more information about the CRT or to report criminal activity in your area, contact the sheriff’s office at 256-734-0342.