His role doesn’t stop at city limits

The writer of the Tuesday letter, “Sheriff: More focus needed on rural areas,” does not understand the Sheriff’s Office and misunderstood what John Lovick wrote in his Sunday guest commentary.

First of all, the Snohomish County sheriff is the lead law enforcement position in the county, by law. That includes incorporated and unincorporated areas of the county. That was the case for Rick Bart as it is for John Lovick.

Secondly, I am glad to see the Sheriff’s Office take the initiative to control the county’s gang problem. A Sheriff’s Office with blinders would look at gangs solely at a “city” problem. But as the sheriff pointed out, “… you can find a gang member in every region of our county.” Gangs in our county do not claim turf in cities as we might expect. They use modern communications, cell phones and e-mail to talk to each other. If a gang member in the city talks to his buddy in the country to cook up a theft of some copper on a farm, they don’t have to conspire face to face. So we need all police agencies in the county talking to each other to catch these gang members, just as the Sheriff’s Office participates with the county’s cities in the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force and the DUI Task Force.

I agree with the letter writer: The sheriff and his staff need to meet with rural organizations. But he is the sheriff for the whole county, rural, suburban and cities.

Steve Moller