Letter to the Editor: Is The Sheriff's Department Moving Away From Providing Community Services?

Thanks to Sheriff John McGinness and Supervisor Don Nottoli for their attendance at the July 14 Special Meeting to address concerns over budget cuts and their impact on services provided by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.

The “Short Notice” of the Meeting and the “Standing Room Only” of those in attendance attest to the concerns felt by Wilton residents.

Closing of the Sheriff’s Service Center was a primary concern; however, it was noted the center will remain open on a modified basis. Exactly what that entails was not readily noted.

The level of deputies on patrol in Wilton will not change; however, it was admitted that response time may be affected due to the necessity of a back up deputy as only one deputy currently is assigned to each vehicle. The problem is that if one unit is in Wilton and the closest other available is in the Delta some time will lapse before the two units can arrive on the scene and thereby have an impact on actual response time. It was suggested that perhaps the “underutilized” reserved deputies might fill in as a second deputy per vehicle in the vast rural areas which would in fact reduce response and add to officer safety. Although there was agreement as to the positive potential it did not appear there was any serious interest in the possibility.

We also learned from Supervisor Don Nottoli that the discretion of spending funds for the Sheriff’s Department is left up to the Sheriff. It is his decision on how those funds will be used and where cuts will be made. That is interesting in light of the fact there was no indication of cuts at the “Administrative Level” only in areas most affecting the communities for which they serve. A bit like trusting the Fox (who is guarding the hen house) to give an accurate accounting of the number of hens remaining in the hen house.

Has crime decreased or is it a decrease in reporting?

The Sheriff’s Department appears to be moving away from providing Community Services, in fact, they have reduced services which impact communities the most. Two examples come to mind:

1) Volunteers used to take crime/incident reports over the phone…..more recently they have been instructed to refer “victims” to the web site where they can self report. As a result crime substantially appeared to have dropped due to victims failure to use the on line reporting system. In reality, for many different reasons, individuals simply did not report crimes. In fact, reporting was down significantly so as to leave the perception that Wilton could do with “less policing” and fewer officers!

2) Throughout California, law enforcement agencies provide crime statistics to the print media……even the City of Elk Grove Police do so. Not true with the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department. Approximately two years ago the volunteers of the Wilton Service Center were given permission to compile crime information for release to the River Valley Times. After a year the Sheriff’s Department rescinded that policy….not due to the unavailability of volunteers. The reason given was that crime statistics were on line and available. Unfortunately, the on line information is incomplete and does not provide an accurate portrayal of active crime within the community of Wilton. In fact the “disclaimer” pretty much tells the story….read it for yourself. In the age of computers it is hard to believe that incomplete information is being provided to the community. Perhaps there is a concerted effort in keeping the facts away from the public? Less Crime? Someone once said that “knowledge is power” or conversely “what you don’t know won’t hurt you”.

Other factors of concern is the investment in “high end” vehicles which will for all intents be “moth balled.” The concern is that when the time comes to put them back in service will the department consider age, not mileage, as a reason for replacement.

It appears we are in need of a “citizen oversight committee(s)” to look into “tax dependant” governmental agencies to see if we are getting full value for our tax dollars and that the needs of the community are being best served. Department heads can still make the decision on how and where to spend the tax dollars; however, a non aligned third party could review those decisions and report directly to the board of supervisors as well as the public at large. The more recent terminology of “transparency” seems to fit.

Eugene Rose

Wilton, CA