KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Officials searched the Jackson County Detention Center Wednesday morning after a tip from staff.
The Jackson County Executive’s Office said in a news release as part of an ongoing investigation, a coordinated and joint search operation happened at the jail.
Diana Turner, the acting director of the Jackson County Department of Corrections, said the operation was aimed at finding contraband in the facility.
She said this is a routine operation that we will see more of in the future.
Turner said she's announcing it now "because you haven't seen it routinely from me yet."
Jackson County Sheriff Mike Sharp said jail staff contacted deputies, saying they had information that led them to believe there was contraband inside some of the jail cells.
The search was conducted on the seventh floor in four pods.
"This time we are not looking at jail employees helping get contraband in. Now we have jail employees telling us what they see, what they know needs to be taken care of, and we are helping them, assisting them anyway we can," Sharp said.
He said this is an ongoing investigation, and he would neither confirm nor deny if officials found anything during the search.
"This is a routine event that's going to start happening more and more often here at this facility," Sharp said.
Turner said searches happen regularly on a weekly basis. She said this search was a particularly significant, targeted search and therefore required more manpower.
Sharp said they also had narcotics dogs searching the facility.
The joint initiative involved about 30 personnel from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and the Jackson County Detention Center’s Corrections Emergency Response Team.
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