Sheriff’s staffing crisis? It’s confirmed

Irene Endicott and Donna Michelson

The citizen in unincorporated Snohomish County who has never had to dial 911, or contact the sheriff’s office in an emergency, may feel "safe." But the perception of safety changes when a citizen waits an agonizing 16.5 minutes on a 911 call while a crazed attacker tries to break into his condominium and he ultimately shoots the intruder to defend his life and that of his son. A growing number of Snohomish County residents do not feel "safe" in their homes.

Some live next door to a known drug house, sleeping with fans on at night to muffle the sounds of violence and traffic. Others start each morning by picking up drug paraphernalia and other contaminated waste in their yard; they worry at work about their kids, or cringe in a hallway as strangers beat on the wrong door at midnight or fortify their young daughter’s bedroom wall to ward off stray bullets. Their fear is palpable and they do not feel "safe."

Still others are angry to find that their bona fide claims of fraud, car theft and burglary go unanswered by the sheriff’s office.

As mothers and political activists for the quality of life in our communities, we are concerned. The seven-member, nonpartisan volunteer task force, Citizens For A Safe Snohomish County, was formed in July. We have examined the issue of staffing in the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, gathering the facts from all sides of the issue. At a news conference on Nov. 16 we announced our findings and recommendations, entitled, "A Crisis Confirmed." We do not use the word "crisis" lightly.

CSSC findings:

  • The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office is critically understaffed in all categories and has been so for over a decade.

  • The understaffing and underfunding are a direct result of consistent public policy and budgetary choices made by the county executive and the county council.

  • The SCSO deputies generally operate in a competent, professional, and productive manner, consistently performing at or above reasonable expectations.

  • Services provided by the SCSO are below acceptable standards of public safety.

  • Citizens, sheriff’s deputies, and the county face intolerable risk and catastrophic liability because of current conditions.

    Neither the executive nor the council disagree that the sheriff’s office is understaffed. But what happens from here depends on the commitment of our elected officials and the collective will of the people of this county. To help facilitate a constructive solution to this crisis, we think it important to address several of the responses to our report from county leaders.

    County council member Barbara Cothern said of our work, "Their goal is laudable, but how do you do it without destroying the other county services that we have to provide by law?" There are three reasons why this response is inadequate:

    First, not providing our sheriff’s office with enough deputies has real costs. The county currently faces pending lawsuits of $10 million and $5 million. Another family has gone on record in these pages with a threat to sue, seeing a shortage of deputies as key to the ongoing problem. Additionally, minimal back up and a shortage of deputies make it much more likely that deputies will have to use deadly or excessive force, which carries a high risk of creating and losing civil litigation. A representative of Executive Bob Drewel said in response to the liability issue, "Anyone can sue us for a bajillion dollars. Winning is another matter." But even an unsuccessful lawsuit is extremely costly to the county, both in dollars and wasted potential.

    Second, the fact that the problem of understaffing will require resources to remedy is not the end of the discussion. For example, our elected officials recently committed to expansion of the county jail, which requires a commitment of considerable resources over several years, and creates "ripple effect" costs that will be felt well into the future. Action was required, resources have been committed and a crisis of overcrowding will, hopefully, be resolved.

    This brings us to the most important issue of priorities. Understaffing is not a new problem. In 1998, the county executive, county council staff, the sheriff’s office and the deputy sheriff’s association all embraced a model of staffing called "Corona." Then- deputy county executive Joni Earl told The Herald, "What we care about is the response time, and how much time the deputies have to do preventative police work." Corona now tells us that the sheriff’s office needs an additional 47.5 deputies. No one tells us the Corona model was incorrect; they simply retreat to the tired argument of "we can’t afford it." It is telling that this argument is rarely applied to other programs such as the expansion of our county government campus (which includes the jail) or the $13.5 million price tag for compliance with the Endangered Species Act. Also, the county executive’s proposed 2002 budgets for human services and planning departments grow at a higher rate than the sheriff’s office.

    Reality is that services the county is required to fund by law are not going to be "destroyed" if the county commits to hiring 47.5 more deputies to bring the office only to minimum recommended level.

    Five additional deputies were promised by the county executive’s 2002 budget. However, we have learned that the funds allocated for the five deputies have been moved to the reserve fund and the decision as to whether those monies can be used for more deputies will be made in April, 2002. Another six months that becomes a year that becomes another decade?

    Citizens For A Safe Snohomish County asks: When will we be solvent in this regard? We must make proper use of funds currently available by daring to set new priorities, and making distinctions between "must haves" and "nice to haves." If government cannot handle the most fundamental need for public safety, soon we won’t be able to enjoy going to parks or anywhere else without looking over our shoulders in fear.

    Irene Endicott is chair of Citizens For A Safe Snohomish County, and resides in south Everett. Donna Michelson is a member of the task force and a Mill Creek City Council member. Free copies of the CSSC task force Report of Findings and Recommendations can be obtained by writing CSSC, PO Box 13618, Mill Creek, WA 98082.

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