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Who cares about deputies? Do you? by Martha M. Ireland The commissioners all turned out for Wally Davis's funeral. They featured his memorial on the Clallam County web page and stopped the courthouse clock for a month. Now they're turning deaf ears to Sheriff Joe Hawe's plea for more manpower.
At the 2001 budget hearing,
a couple dozen citizens demanded extra spending to enforce
land use laws. Only the sheriff and two deputies spoke up
for more peace officers.
A smattering of letters to
the editor says deputies are feeling "outraged,"
"abandoned and betrayed." And with cause.
This is nothing new. When I
took office in 1996, I found a pervasive bias against
sheriff's department funding at the highest levels of the
courthouse. It was not a partisan issue. Apolitical
Administrator Jim Rumpeltes, Democrat Commissioner Dorothy
Duncan, and Republican Commissioner Phil Kitchel all
shared the same position. Carole Boardman was slightly
more sheriff-supportive than Duncan had been, but when
Democrat Mike Doherty replaced Kitchel, he spouted the
same lines on this topic as Kitchel had.
If Hawe wants anything new,
the prevailing opinion holds, he should "find"
the money within his own budget. Where? Let him do away
with "fripperies" such as the D.A.R.E. program
or give up his one political appointee undersheriff.
The sheriff's department
gets the largest share of the county budget, they note,
ignoring the fact that its share is 51 percent, compared
to a statewide average of 62 percent.
For several years, Clallam
budgets routinely began with the presumption that the
number of deputies would be cut. One year, Boardman and I
adopted a budget retaining all deputies on a two-to-one
vote.
Hawe dared not ask for more
deputies when he was fighting just to keep what he had.
Last year, I managed to move those existing deputies' jobs
off the chopping block, which opened the door for Hawe to
ask for more deputies this year. Initially, he dared not.
Then a deputy was killed--an obscenely high price to pay
for the right to discuss a formerly taboo topic.
Clallam funds only two patrol deputies out
of its road fund--far below average. It has one of the
richest road funds in the state. Why
not use this ready cash to
bring the county up to the bare minimum of one officer per
1,000 residents?
The commissioners vs.
sheriff acrimony pre-dates Hawe and is not limited to the
topic of staffing.
Within my first month in
office, I became aware of jail medical services
inadequacies. Then I learned I was the only
policy-setter interested in addressing it. Early this
year, jail medical became a crisis with the sheriff
privately considering filing suit against the
commissioners. Confronted by liability concerns, they
slapped on a "Band-aid" and left it to fester.
To my observation,
offender confinement issues were much more likely to get
a positive reception if they were within Juvenile
Services, which is under the direction of the
commissioners, than within the adult jail, which is
supervised by the sheriff.
In most counties, the
sheriff chairs the Law and Justice Council. Here' a
commissioner is co-chair. When I took over that position
from Duncan, I was told it was set up that way so the
commissioners could keep a tight rein on the sheriff.
Instead, I operated a partnership. It appears that the
former adversarial relationship is returning.
Considering
Commissioner-elect Mike Chapman's law enforcement
background, he may well be an ally of the sheriff's
department. If so, he will likely be a lone voice, echoed
only by a few deputies pleading for backup.
Clearly, law enforcement is
a priority to the top leadership of Clallam County, and to
the average local citizen, only in times of crisis--and
then, very briefly.
Every contact I have had
with Clallam County officers in the field has been
laudable. Our deputies have earned our respect and
support.
It is a shame that they do
not get it.
Martha Ireland was a
Clallam County commissioner from 1996-1999. She is a
writer-editor by profession. She lives with her husband, Dale,
and "critters" in the Carlsborg area. Her column
appears every Friday in the Peninsula Daily News.
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