The Interior Journal
Staff Report

In 2014, several Kentucky police agencies united in an effort to strengthen law enforcement service.

The Bluegrass and Central Kentucky Unified Police Protection System or ‘BACKUPPS’ is an effort that allows officers from participating agencies to share jurisdictional boundaries to combat criminal activity and to protect citizens. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department became the latest law enforcement agency to join the partnership with Judge-Executive Jim W. Adams Jr. and the Lincoln County Fiscal Court approving the measure Tuesday.

BACKUPPS operates much like volunteer fire departments and emergency management agencies have done for years by crossing county lines to assist one another, allowing deputies and municipal police officers to cross into other jurisdictions in which the agreement is in place to follow their cases as they cross county lines or to assist an overloaded agency requesting extra help.

BACKUPPS was founded in 2014 by Georgetown Police Chief Michael Bosse with 26 agencies primarily in the central bluegrass signing on. The program has now reached 52 agencies across the state.

Some of the agencies that have passed the resolution and are named in the agreement are listed below:

Anderson County Sheriff’s Office
Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office
Boyle County Sheriff’s Office
Clark County Sheriff’s Office
Clay City Police Department
Cynthiana Police Department
Danville Police Department
Frankfort Police Department
Franklin County Sheriff’s Office
Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office
Garrard County Sheriff’s Office
Georgetown Police Department
Grant County Sheriff’s Office
Harrodsburg Police Department
Hart County Sheriff’s Office
Henry County Sheriff’s Office
Lancaster Police Department
Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office
Marion County Sheriff’s Office
Mason County Sheriff’s Office
Mercer County Sheriff’s Office
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office
Mount Sterling Police Department
Nicholasville Police Department
Owen County Sheriff’s Office
Owenton Police Department
Paris Police Department
Powell County Sheriff’s Office
Rowan County Sheriff’s Office
Scott County Sheriff’s Office
Stamping Ground Police Department
Stanton Police Department
University of Kentucky Police Department
Versailles Police Department
Wilmore Police Department
Winchester Police Department
Woodford County Sheriff’s Office