EVERETT — After a month on the job, Sheriff John Lovick plans to spend almost $100,000 to hire someone to coordinate community partnerships.
Lovick told voters on the campaign trail that the sheriff’s office needed to work more closely with neighborhoods, schools, businesses, churches and other police departments to effectively fight crime. The new staffer will work toward reaching out to those groups and creating partnerships.
“The person will look at what we’re doing now and how we can bring people together,” he said. “The goal will be crime prevention.”
While running for sheriff, Lovick criticized the previous sheriff’s administration for cutting crime prevention officers. He told voters the sheriff’s office should be in the business of crime prevention and he’d work to restore those positions.
The director of community partnerships is a new approach to fighting crime, Lovick said. He said he believes the sheriff’s office needs the new position before hiring crime prevention officers.
The new hire will work out of the north precinct in Marysville and will be available to address concerns about crime and answer questions about block watches or other crime prevention tools, Lovick said.
“Our lieutenants are doing some of this now,” he said. “We need to get them back to crime fighting.”
Lovick received approval from the County Council on Wednesday to use a grant from the Tulalip and Stillaguamish tribes to add the new position.
Last year the sheriff’s office used a similar grant from the tribes to buy stun guns for patrol deputies, monitoring equipment for three interview rooms and a computer forensic hardware system.
The grant isn’t a guarantee and will only pay for the position through the year.
If Lovick wants to keep it, he’ll have to find the funding beyond this year.
Lovick said during his campaign he wouldn’t ask for more money for new positions until he could prove they were necessary. He and his command staff have agreed they need someone to reach out to the community and begin building partnerships, the sheriff said.
Whether the position is effective is something Republican County Councilman John Koster said he wants monitored, especially if the county is going to pay for a salary in future years.
“How will we know if this is a success or a failure?” Koster said. “I believe we’re heading into some difficult budget times in the next year.”
Bureau Chief Rob Beidler told the County Council that statistics will show whether the person is effective.
“At budget time, I’ll be looking for an update,” Koster said.
Reporter Jeff Switzer contributed to this report.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
