Hazel Dell resident Bob Zak shares his thoughts on the Clark County Sheriff’s Office staffing crisis
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com
We live in the Lakeshore area of Hazel Dell, in the county served by the sheriff. The article gave these stats:
All of our surrounding cities have one police officer per 1,000 residents. The national average is 2.8 / 1000 residents. WA State counties average is 1.24/1000 residents. Clark County is .64/1,000 residents, almost at the bottom of the list. Clark County has 245,000 residents across 512 sq miles.
It takes 18 months from time of hire to assignment in the field for a deputy. Sheriff John Horch has already ordered deputies not to respond to some low level crimes.
I know what a staffing crisis is from my service as a law enforcement officer for WA State and the US Army and I agree with Sheriff Horch.
Our county councilor for District 2, is Michelle Belkot. They set the budget for all county agencies. Here is the disturbing fact from the poll in Clark County Today’. On use of agency money:
1. Yes, I believe the sheriff will use the funds correctly. 29.84%
2. No, I don’t trust them to allocate the money properly. 47.58%
3. I would need more transparency to decide 21.77%
4. Not sure .81%
We are in TROUBLE!! If we the people do not trust our elected sheriff in allocating money received from taxes, who are we going to depend on if we need a deputy – whether it’s here at home or somewhere we are at in Clark County. Seriously. It is time you “engage” with Sheriff Horch. He has had one “neighborhood” meeting that I am aware of, where I live. It was held last year at Fazio Neighborhood Park. His staff were there all afternoon. Do not let this deputy funding shortage endanger your family. Contact Sheriff John Horch and Councilor Michele Belkot. We need to trust our sheriff to allocate money for our protection so if and when we need a deputy the response time will be minutes, not hours.
Bob Zak
Hazel Dell
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Great letter from Bob Zak.
Yes, “We are in trouble!” Elections have consequences, yet in this State we continue to elect lawmakers who are anti-police, prosecutors who are anti-prosecution, and County Council members who will not allocate funds to hire more deputies. Any rational person thinking about becoming a police officer in this state is going to have second thoughts because they know they don’t have support from the lawmakers or a large portion of the public. If you had to perform a job where you could be held personally liable, lose everything you own, and have an entire contingent of do-nothing politicians constantly second guessing your daily life or death decisions, you’d look elsewhere for a career too. We are in trouble, and the only way to change it is to VOTE THEM OUT!
“It’s not a blame thing. In politics, people love to blame. This is where we need to put the past in the past,” Horch said. “We have a problem. How do we get to the solutions? What are the options we have?”
One wonders where the County Council would find funding for more deputies given the already glaring $10 million shortfall in the budget. Also important to note that Proposition 4 was roundly rejected in the last general. Most of the comments on that result on this very site cheered the fact.
This is not a “county council” problem. Nobody wants to spend more money. Everyone wants to get more services.
It’s long past time to stop putting our faith in politics and start putting heads together with our neighbors to work toward solutions. Nobody is coming to save us and anybody who says different is selling something.