FALLS CITY – County Commissioner David Sickel used the last moments of his 16-year career as a Richardson County commissioner to commend the work of the Richardson County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Rick Hardesty.

The sheriff’s office reports 567 people booked in the county jail in 2024, including nearly 500 due to arrests by sheriff’s deputies. The jail took in 23 inmates on out-of-county holds and located 472.

Sickel said he was impressed when Hardesty applied to finish the term of Sheriff Don Pounds in 2019.

Sickel: “I appreciate what he does. I was impressed when he came up to talk to us and he lived up to what he said he would try to do.”

Hardesty: “Every day we try to be better than we were yesterday.”

Sickel: “I think you’ve done a good job.”

The sheriff said his office answered 7,190 calls, including 4,281 traffic stops.

The sheriff’s office also served 50 search warrants. Half of those were residential that resulted in the arrest of 34 people.

From 2012 to 2020, county judges never issued more than 12 warrants in a year.

There were 14 search warrants in Falls City, five in Humboldt, four in Dawson, one in Stella and one in rural Falls City.

Hardesty: “It was a busy year. We just served another warrant. I can’t image it’s going to change.”

In 2018, there were 517 felony charges filed in Richardson County court. In 2023, there 728.

https://rivercountry.newschannelnebraska.com/story/45605572/prosecution-on-record-pace-in-richardson-county

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