Letters - Dec. 17, 2009

Deputy’s response

This letter is being written in response to last week’s article in the Whitman County Gazette headlined “Partch’s budget cuts too deep.”

In 2008 the Whitman County Deputy Sheriffs Association agreed to a four year contract with the Whitman County Commissioners that covered several areas including wages and health insurance. You can view the current Whitman County Deputy Sheriffs Association contract at http://www.whitmancounty.org under the Human Resources tab.

In the article Commissioner Partch is quoted as saying “We’ve asked every one of our departments to do step freezes, I think the Sheriff’s Department has got to be part of the solution.”

I am the President of the Whitman County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, and I have never been contacted by any of the three Whitman County Commissioners wanting the Deputy Sheriff’s Association to negotiate any type of wage freeze. The first time I heard this was last week in the Colfax Gazette. I would think if Commissioner Partch wanted the Deputy Sheriffs Association to negotiate any type of wage freeze he could walk across the courtyard at the courthouse and contact me first before bringing the matter up in a budget hearing.

The next quote by Commissioner Partch I read was “We have per capita more law enforcement than any other county in the state.” I have looked at several different statistics on this quote and have not found one that shows this to be correct.

Commissioner Partch then goes on to say the suspension of nighttime patrols was instituted years ago to save patrol costs.

Too often, he said, deputies were patrolling the wrong areas when late-night crimes occurred.

My question to Commissioner Partch would be “How would you know where the deputies were patrolling and also how would you know if we were “in the wrong areas?” Whitman County is approximately 2,250 square miles in size and the Sheriff’s Office on average has three deputies working at one time so one deputy is responsible for 750 miles by himself.

If Commissioner Partch knows exactly where the late-night crime areas are he has not let the members of the Whitman County Deputy Sheriffs Association aware of them.

In the article it makes mention that the Whitman County Commissioners recently signed an amendment reference health insurance and Commissioner Partch said the deputies did not concede enough benefits to help the county tackle it’s financial crisis in those negotiations.

In the Fall of 2009 the Whitman County Commissioners asked the Whitman County Deputy Sheriffs Association to come to the bargaining table reference health insurance.

The Commissioner’s wanted the Deputy Sheriff’s Association to agree to allow them to change their health insurance from a tiered system to a composite rate on one of the health insurance plans to save the county money.

The Whitman County Deputy Sheriff’s Association was under a current contract and had no obligation to come to the bargaining table but voluntarily agreed to meet with the county and discuss this matter due to it saving the county money.

Once we agreed to meet reference this matter the county then wanted the Deputy Sheriff’s Association to agree to an elimination of some health insurance plans along with the switch to composite rates.

After several meetings with the county an agreement was made with the county and the Deputy Sheriff’s Association agreed to allow the county to switch to the composite rates on one insurance plan to save the county money.

Commissioner Partch should be thankful we came to the bargaining table voluntarily because it would of cost the county a lot more money in the end if we had not voluntarily agreed to allow the county to switch to composite rates from tiered rates.

Commissioner Partch is next quoted as saying “Deputies have had lots of advantages over our other employees, they get raises and step raises next year.

They get cars to drive home at night because they’re on call.

We pay full medical coverage on them and 60 percent on their families.

All I’m asking them to do is share the pain and do what’s right.” What Commissioner Partch failed to mention was that the reason the county has to pay step increases and raises next year is that he agreed to a contract in 2008 that makes this possible.

Commissioner Partch also failed to mention that he has not once come to the Deputy Sheriff’s Association and asked us if we would agree to freeze step increases or raises but thinks it appropriate to bring this up in a budget hearing just a few weeks before the budget year of 2010.

As for the county paying health insurance on Deputy Sheriff’s Association members and 60 percent of dependent coverage, Commissioner Partch forgot to mention that in 2004, Whitman County and the Deputy Sheriffs Association had to go to interest arbitration due to either side coming to an agreement and an arbitrator made the decision to make the county pay for the employee and 60 percent of dependent coverage based on comparable counties in the State of Washington on wage and benefit packages since Whitman County was at the bottom of their comparable counties.

Since Commissioner Partch thinks it is a great benefit to have a take home patrol car parked in your driveway I would be more than willing to give him mine.

I get members of the public coming to my front door at all hours of the day and night while I am spending time with my family off duty, but instead of charging the county I just think that is part of the job and volunteer my time and assist the public in any way possible because that is what public service is all about.

In closing the Whitman County Deputy Sheriff’s Association has 16 members that are dedicated to the citizens of Whitman County and are willing to go above and beyond when they are called upon. We take our job seriously and are dedicated to public service and are honored to call Whitman County our home and we will continue to serve the citizens of Whitman County with or without Commissioner Partch’s cooperation and dedication to public safety.

Dan Brown,

Oakesdale,

President Whitman County

Deputy Sheriff’s Association

Research

I have spent most of my 48 years living here in Whitman County. I did experience life elsewhere while completing my college degree and while serving in the military. I have spent the last 15 years working at the Whitman County Sheriff s Office. I currently hold the title of “Undersheriff”; this is where most people ask, “What’s an Undersheriff?” The easy answer is, I only have one boss and he was elected Sheriff by the citizens of Whitman County. You did make an excellent choice when you elected Sheriff Brett Myers and he is performing his duties honorably with you, the citizens of Whitman County, always in mind.

When I read last week’s Gazette, I was bothered by a few quotes attributed to Commissioner Greg Partch. Some of these quotes did not appear factual, while others just plain did not make sense. I understand the budget crisis facing our three commissioners, but I certainly hope they base their difficult budget decisions on true facts and, in the end, I hope their decisions do make sense.

So let’s get to the quotes:

“We have per capita more law enforcement than any other county in the state,” Partch stated.

I researched this statement and, at least according to my research, found it to be false.

The good news is that Whitman County is ranked 10th in the state with 1.8 law enforcement personnel for every 1000 citizens.

The bad news is that Washington State ranks 47h in the nation at 1.6 law enforcement personnel for every 1000 citizens.

The overall average for the United States is 2.5 law enforcement personnel for every 1000 citizens.

The State of Louisiana is ranked number one with 3.9 law enforcement personnel for every 1000 citizens.

The State of Vermont is ranked last with 1.5 law enforcement personnel for every 1000 citizens.

These statistics do not tell me Whitman County has a surplus of law enforcement personnel.

“Too often, he (Partch) said, deputies were patrolling the wrong areas when late-night crimes occurred.” My somewhat simplistic response to this is that it appears crimes are less likely to occur where deputies are patrolling.

In fact, I will be so bold as to state that if deputies were patrolling every inch of Whitman County, 24 hours, 7 days a week, all crime would be greatly reduced.

However, I decided to dig a little deeper.

I decided to determine how many law enforcement personnel per square mile local law enforcement agencies currently have.

I thought this may help explain why deputies always seem to be patrolling the “wrong areas”.

The city of Pullman has 2.9 officers per square mile.

Colfax has 3 officers per square mile.

Palouse-Garfield, Rosalia, and Colton all have 1.6 officers per square mile.

Oakesdale has 1 officer per square mile.

The Whitman County Sheriff’s Office has 0.008 deputies per square mile.

That fact may help explain why deputies always appear to be patrolling the “wrong areas.”

“To say to the people that we are not covered from 2 to 7 is not factual,” said Partch. “We have deputies on call that live all over the county. Those are just scare tactics they’re trying to get to the people.” Apparently Commissioner Partch feels the county is adequately “covered” while deputies sleep in their homes. Perhaps, Commissioner Partch’s next suggestion will be to have deputies sleep at home 24 hours a day until they are needed. Commissioner Partch does not appear to believe pro-active police work can and does prevent DUI accidents, accidents caused by excessive speed, thefts, burglaries, etc.

Commissioner Partch makes several references to “deals” the deputies have made.

He refers to deals regarding medical insurance and pay raises.

I believe it is important to understand these “deals” were not made between the deputies and their Sheriff.

They were made between the deputies and the county commissioners.

I think it is reasonable to suggest Commissioner Partch blame himself (along with the other commissioners) if they agreed to what he apparently now believes were bad deals.

However, it should be noted, Commissioner Michael Largent and Commissioner Pat O’Neill appear satisfied with the Sheriffs currently proposed budget and are not demanding an additional $68,718 cut to the Sheriff’s budget.

Perhaps, these two commissioners feel the previous deals were made with the safety of the citizens of Whitman County in mind and their budget proposals continue to appropriately prioritize the safety of the public.

Ronald A. Rockness,

Oakesdale

‘Pinhead’

To the person that complained aloud in front of my friends about sending a Colfax police officer to the memorial in Tacoma. I was the officer that went, and in my opinion, all of us should have gone. But someone had to stay behind to protect your interests, Mr SmartGuy. In addition, it did cost the taxpayers of Colfax (of which I am one too) a couple of tanks of gas and two meals (both at McDonalds). I also stayed at my dad’s in Olympia to avoid lodging costs, and it all happened on my days off so I spent no time away from protecting you.

I wonder how it must be for you to spend the holiday. ( I can say Christmas here) with family and friends. Because I won’t be. I’ll be on duty on the 24th and 25th. And those officers (Mark, Ron, Greg & Tina) won’t be either...they’re dead! I’m sure that the nine children they left behind won’t be having a great Christmas either.

If I may borrow a quote: “You just might be a Pinhead.”

Merry Christmas everyone.

Dave Szambelan,

Colfax