Washington County Sheriff’s Office launches app

WASHINGTON — The Washington County Sheriff’s Office now has a presence in the app store of most mobile phones.

Sheriff Jared Schneider said earlier this month that the software could connect users with some of county law enforcement’s most asked-about programs. The app currently includes shortcuts to weapons permit forms, links to mental health, transportation and drug/alcohol services in the area, an inmate search function, push notifications about severe weather, and a tip submission line among numerous other functions.

“Nowadays, everybody’s using an electronic device in their hand,” Schneider said. “I think it gets people the information probably more direct than having to go find a website. I think accessibility is probably the biggest reason to put it on an app.”

The county plans to add resources to the app in the near future to help reduce illegal drug use, according to Schneider, who said it may one day be used to find prescription drug disposal sites and distributors of naloxone, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, better known by its brand name — Narcan.

While the app hasn’t been widely publicized yet, Schneider said he expected to spread word of it more as features were added.

The first-year cost of developing the app was over $13,000, according to the sheriff, who said he expected the software to cost $6,295 per year to maintain moving forward.

To pay that bill, the sheriff asked county supervisors to allocate opioid relief funds to the project, a request they approved unanimously Feb. 4.

“We’re looking at other ways where we could build out the opioid function of the app,” Schneider said. “It’s not just looking at the opioid funds as a way of paying for it, but it’s also building a function within the app to be beneficial for our county.”

The dollars come from legal settlements paid by pharmaceutical giants to local governments across the nation, after companies like Teva, Allergan, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and others settled a nationwide lawsuit that accused them of causing countless overdose deaths linked to powerful prescription painkillers.

Washington County is set to receive $506,391 by 2038, when the settlements finish paying out. The money can only be spent on certain programs, spelled out in the clauses of those legal agreements.

“We shouldn’t just be letting (these funds) sit there and build up,” Schneider said. “We need to start putting them to use and have it be a benefit to our county, that’s what the intention of those funds are for.”

While the county has discussed using the funds for numerous things — developing a court specifically for drug offenses, setting up local drug screening offices and distributing emergency naloxone to community members — most of the money is yet uncommitted.

Still, with clear community benefits and a cost far lower than the opioid relief account’s available cash, County Supervisor Marcus Fedler said using that money on the sheriff’s app was a “no-brainer.”

“It’s a great use of those funds, I think,” he said.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com