ROCHESTER — When Cpl. Jon Schwartz starts his shift at the Rochester Police Department, he checks the agency’s incident reports for crimes that require follow-up work. In this village of roughly 3,400, those reports often include burglaries, thefts and criminal damage to property. Before Schwartz became the department’s first investigator, some of these cases would fall through the cracks. “(A patrol officer) could be, throughout (his or her) shift, following up on a number of things, a number of cases, and not have the time to do them justice,” Rochester Police Chief Bill Marass said. “Now, someone can follow up in a timely manner who is able to network with victims, apprise them of the case, follow up on leads and interview witnesses and suspects in a timely manner.” Though he doesn’t deal with the major crimes characteristic of larger communities, Marass says Schwartz is providing a vital service — one many small-town police agencies struggle to provide because of lack of manpower or other resources. “Our philosophy is, every case is serious to the victim,” Schwartz said. “It does impact them and we want them to know that we want to do all we can to try to resolve it.” Other police departments surrounding Springfield, such as Chatham, Riverton and Sherman, do not have full-time detectives. Instead, cases requiring in-depth investigation are divvied up among trained patrol officers, or patrol officers are responsible for conduct ...
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ROCHESTER — When Cpl. Jon Schwartz starts his shift at the Rochester Police Department, he checks the agency’s incident reports for crimes that require follow-up work. In this village of roughly 3,400, those reports often include burglaries, thefts and criminal damage to property. Before Schwartz became the department’s first investigator, some of these cases would fall through the cracks. “(A patrol officer) could be, throughout (his or her) shift, following up on a number of things, a number of cases, and not have the time to do them justice,” Rochester Police Chief Bill Marass said. “Now, someone can follow up in a timely manner who is able to network with victims, apprise them of the case, follow up on leads and interview witnesses and suspects in a timely manner.” Though he doesn’t deal with the major crimes characteristic of larger communities, Marass says Schwartz is providing a vital service — one many small-town police agencies struggle to provide because of lack of manpower or other resources. “Our philosophy is, every case is serious to the victim,” Schwartz said. “It does impact them and we want them to know that we want to do all we can to try to resolve it.” Other police departments surrounding Springfield, such as Chatham, Riverton and Sherman, do not have full-time detectives. Instead, cases requiring in-depth investigation are divvied up among trained patrol officers, or patrol officers are responsible for conduct ...