Installation of a $6,800 bank-type tube to deliver criminal warrants between the jail’s booking division and warrants office reduces the chance of escapes and saves manpower, a Rutherford County Sheriff’s captain said.

The tube links the sheriff’s office warrants division in the front of the building to booking in the back of the building, said Detention Capt. Derrell Cagle.

Warrants Lt. Jennifer Lance said previously, law enforcement officers who arrested an inmate on a warrant had to obtain the warrant before booking the inmate into the jail. Officers left the inmate locked in the patrol car to obtain the warrant, asked a warrants clerk to deliver the warrant to the patrol car outside the office or asked a warrants clerk to deliver the warrant from the front of the building to the booking area in the back of the building.

Judicial commissioners who issue the warrants also save time by not walking from their office to booking.

Warrants clerks often walked the route up to 80 times in a 24-hour period, Lance said.

Cagle estimated it cost $2 in salary each time a warrants clerk or booking officer left their post to deliver a warrant. Now the warrants clerk places the warrant in the tube and sends it to booking within seconds.

“It’s a win-win situation for citizens and law enforcement officers,” Cagle said. “It reduces the possibility of a security risk or escape by officers who have prisoners by allowing the officers to bring the prisoner straight to the jail. Instead of warrants clerks taking the time to walk the warrant to booking, they may spend that time answering citizens’ calls, assisting citizens who need help in the lobby and performing their duties. It’s a better use of manpower.”

Sheriff Robert Arnold said from working in the jail, he knows the tube will save officers’ time.

“This is part of our efforts to make the sheriff’s office operate more efficiently,” Arnold said.

Also, law enforcement officers spend less time in booking, allowing them to return to the streets quicker.

Booking Lt. Chris Beach said it often took five to 15 minutes waiting for the security doors to be opened to deliver the documents from warrants to booking and back to booking to be delivered to the court system.

The bank tube is also used when someone pays a cash bond for release. The warrants clerk can deliver the receipt without physically walking the receipt back to booking.

“We’re short on employees as it is,” Beach said. “On a busy night, booking may serve 25 to 30 warrants. That adds up in time spent. If you take the numbers and add up the salary of the employee walking, it pays for itself in no time.

“It has increased our efficiency quite a bit,” Beach added. “I would imagine it has already paid for itself.”