Faster response requires deputies

An Oct 24 letter writer complains about what she calls the “notorious slow response time” of the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. Right. When I came to the Sheriff’s Office from another agency in 1986, there were .64 deputies per thousand residents. When I retired in 2003 there were .74. The average for the state was around one per thousand, and for the nation about two per thousand.

Mostly I worked around Stanwood. On the west side of I-5, my area went from 140th St to Skagit County. On the east side of I-5 it ran from Highway 530 to Skagit County. It stretched from Highway 9 to the Sound. One deputy. Me. By myself. And it wasn’t even the largest area.

If I needed backup, it was further away. Slow response? Yep, guilty, even though I drove like hell to get there. So to help out the current deputy in this area, let’s put some detectives on the road. How about if we take some of the half dozen people working Crimes Against Children, each of whom has 30 to 60 open cases on their desk? Imagine the insanity of that, and then double it if you put three of them in patrol cars. As a serving deputy I couldn’t say this, but now I can. Here is where the letter writer can lay the blame for all this:

Look in the mirror. Say to the person you see there, “You get what you pay for.” Then don’t complain when your taxes go up a few cents to put more deputies on the road. More deputies mean smaller areas and faster response times.

Bill Case

Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, Mexico

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