Decatur County Kansas Sheriff's Office

What Decatur County Kansas Sheriff's Office does

The Decatur County Kansas Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement agency for Decatur County, Kansas, headquartered on the 4th floor of the Decatur County Courthouse at 120 E. Hall Street, Oberlin, Kansas. The office serves a rural population of approximately 2,800–3,000 residents across Oberlin (county seat), Norcatur, Jennings, Dresden, and surrounding townships. The agency is staffed by seven personnel: Sheriff David Wachendorfer, Undersheriff Brady Ginther, four deputies (Tyler Allen, Amber Carfield, Crystal Williams, Jonathan Baetz), and Jail Administrator Arturo Serrano. Operations are available 24/7, with emergency response via 911 and non-emergency contact through 785-475-8100.

The office delivers core law enforcement services including patrol, criminal investigation, emergency response, jail detention, and civil process serving. Supplementary fee-based services include VIN inspections ($20), report copies ($10), court-ordered fingerprinting ($45), concealed carry fingerprinting ($32.50), offender registration ($20), and civil process serving ($15 in-state, $35 out-of-state). Technology is limited to two third-party SaaS integrations: CIDNet for remote video visitation (up to 30 minutes per visit, two visits per day per inmate) and jailATM.com for inmate commissary and phone time management. The agency maintains a Facebook presence for community engagement and lists services on the county website at dccoks.org/sheriff.

The business model is primarily government appropriation from Decatur County tax revenue, supplemented by small transaction fees for defined services. As a public safety entity, the office holds statutory monopoly over county law enforcement, jail operations, and civil process serving within its jurisdiction. The Sheriff is an elected official accountable to county constituents, and the agency operates independently of commercial ownership or investor capital. The parent entity is Decatur County Government, and the office has been part of the county government structure since the county's founding in 1873.

Name

Decatur County Kansas Sheriff's Office

Legal name

Decatur County Kansas Sheriff's Office

Website

https://dccoks.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1873

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Decatur County Kansas Sheriff's Office is the county law enforcement agency serving approximately 2,800–3,000 residents of Decatur County, Kansas, providing 24/7 patrol, jail operations, civil process, VIN inspections, fingerprinting, and offender registration from its Oberlin courthouse headquarters.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Law Enforcement Services

NAICS

Police Protection (922120), Investigation and Personal Background Check Services (561611)

SIC

Services-Detective, Guard & Armored Car Services (7381)

akta.pro primary industry

Judicial Oversight, Sentencing & Parole Boards (BPAIAFAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Criminal Background Checks (National/State/County) (BPACALAA), Electronic Monitoring & Community Corrections Services (Ankle Monitoring, Probation Support) (BPAKANAF)

Keywords

• Law enforcement services
• County jail operations
• Civil process serving
• VIN inspection services
• Fingerprinting services

Headquarters

HQ city

Oberlin

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Government Appropriation: Primary funding from Decatur County government budget allocated through county commissioners. Taxpayer-funded general revenue for law enforcement operations.
2. Service Fees: Fees collected for specific services including VIN inspections, report copies, fingerprinting, offender registration, and civil process serving. Fee structure varies by service type and jurisdiction (in-state vs. out-of-state).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

The Decatur County Kansas Sheriff's Office provides county-wide law enforcement and public safety services including 24/7 patrol, emergency response, investigations, traffic enforcement, and crime prevention. It operates the county jail with on-site and remote video visitation, and offers transactional services including VIN inspections ($20), fingerprinting (court-ordered $45, concealed carry $32.50, free for employment), offender registration ($20), civil process serving (in-state $15, out-of-state $35), and report copies ($10).

Product overview

The Decatur County Sheriff's Office provides core law enforcement and public safety services for Decatur County, Kansas. The office operates the county jail with 24/7 detention capabilities and offers supplementary services including VIN inspections, fingerprinting, offender registration, and civil process serving. The Sheriff's Office utilizes external platforms CIDNet for visitation scheduling and jailATM.com for commissary and phone account management. Services are available 24/7 for emergencies via 911.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Law Enforcement Services
• County Jail Operations
• VIN Inspections
• Fingerprinting Services
• Offender Registration
• Civil Process Services
• Report Copies

Quantifiable outcome

• 24/7 emergency availability
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Kansas Sheriff's AssociationminorOthersProfessional membership organization for Kansas sheriff's offices providing advocacy, training resources, and legislative representation for law enforcement across the state.
• Kansas Attorney GeneralminorOthersState law enforcement coordination and legal authority oversight for county sheriff's offices in Kansas.
• Kansas Highway PatrolminorOthersVehicle inspection referrals for salvaged titles, vehicles older than 1972, or non-standard VINs. Troopers in Norton conduct these inspections at 785-877-2562.
• Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI)minorOthersState criminal investigation support and registered offender registry coordination.
• National Registered Offender SearchminorOthersNational database for tracking and public notification of registered offenders.
• CIDNETcoreTechnology or IntegrationVideo visitation technology provider enabling remote visitation services for jail inmates and their visitors.
• jailATM.comcoreTechnology or IntegrationCommissary and phone time management system allowing deposits to inmate accounts and phone services.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Sheridan County Kansas Sheriff's Office: Neighboring rural Kansas county sheriff's office of comparable size and population. Provides the same statutory law enforcement, jail, civil process, and ancillary services to a similarly small population base, making it a directly comparable functional peer.
• Norton County Kansas Sheriff's Office: Adjacent county sheriff's office in northwest Kansas with similar population profile. Provides overlapping jail, civil process, VIN inspection, and fingerprinting services, and is one of the agencies to which Decatur County refers excluded VIN inspection cases.
• Graham County Kansas Sheriff's Office: Small rural Kansas county sheriff's office offering the same statutory services — patrol, jail operations, civil process, and fingerprinting — to a comparable low-population base, making it a functional peer.
• Rawlins County Kansas Sheriff's Office: Another small rural northwest Kansas county sheriff's office. Closely matches Decatur County in geographic scale, service mix, and statutory mandate, serving as a direct operational peer.

Broad incumbents

• CoreCivic: Private corrections operator that runs county, state, and federal detention facilities. Comparable to the jail operations portion of Decatur County's mandate, though at substantially larger scale and under commercial contracts.
• Kansas Bureau of Investigation: State criminal investigative agency that coordinates with county sheriff's offices on serious crimes and manages the registered offender registry. Provides state-level investigative capabilities that complement county-level operations.
• Kansas Highway Patrol: State-level law enforcement agency that performs VIN inspections for cases Decatur County cannot handle (salvaged titles, pre-1972 vehicles, non-standard VINs). Operates a broader jurisdiction but overlaps on specific inspection and traffic enforcement functions.
• GEO Group: Private prison and detention facility operator offering jail management services to government agencies. Comparable to the county jail operations component of the Sheriff's Office, though delivered through commercial contracts rather than direct public employment.

Others

• Securus Technologies: Provider of inmate communications, visitation, and commissary technology solutions to correctional facilities. Directly comparable to the CIDNET and jailATM.com infrastructure used by Decatur County's jail operations.
• Axon Enterprise: Leading provider of law enforcement technology including body cameras, TASER devices, and digital evidence management. A relevant ecosystem vendor to county sheriff's offices even though it does not directly provide law enforcement services itself.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/decatur-county-kansas-sheriff-s-office

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Decatur County Kansas Sheriff's Office