PORT TOWNSEND — The Board of Jefferson County Commissioners will consider approving a request from the sheriff’s office to add a deputy to the south part of the county.
The conversation Monday was part of a mid-biennium review and modification workshop for the county’s general fund, led by Administrator Mark McCauley.
“I do believe that the county can afford to add a south county deputy,” McCauley said.
The sheriff’s office asked for a larger mid-biennium funding increase, but was just granted $140,000 for the deputy, pending the passing of general fund modifications at a December public hearing.
A south county deputy would be primarily focused on the Quilcene, Brinnon and Coyle areas, said Undersheriff Andy Pernsteiner.
“I was looking up stats for 2023, and about 23 percent of our calls were south county,” Pernsteiner said. “That’s basically everything south of (state Highway) 104. Nine times out of 10, when you get a call down there, you go there, you deal with the call and then you’re stacked for a second call up north. You don’t get to spend a lot of time down there.”
Pernsteiner also noted that existing delay times can sometimes discourage people from even calling, as it’s unlikely for a deputy to catch anything in progress.
A south county deputy would still receive support from deputies on the north end of the county, and the south county deputy would be called up north sometimes as well, Sheriff Joe Nole said Monday.
“The priority will be and the schedule will show that you are down south,” Nole said. “That’s where you work all day.”
Nole said a few of the current deputies are interested in the position. Pernsteiner added that he has identified the Brinnon fire station, Quilcene Fire Rescue’s administration building or Quilcene Community Center as potential locations for a deputy’s office, possibly free of rent.
In regard to keeping a full-time officer busy, Nole said there should be plenty to do.
“Brinnon has a fair amount of calls, and Quilcene (does too),” Nole said. “I think there will be enough to keep them busy down there. When they’re not, they will be expected to be communing with the public or patrolling, heading up the Dosewallips or the other places where we’re not always able to go.”
Pernsteiner underlined the special benefits of having one deputy devoted to the area, he said that the position would be focused on community policing, which would entail attending neighborhood meetings, engaging with businesses, and addressing trends and problem areas.
“It’s a specialized job title down there,” he said. “To stay down there, to build relationships with the members that live down there. I think it does work a lot better to have one face and one person that they go to, versus like, you know, today it’s me who goes down there, tomorrow it’s him, the next day it’s so-and-so. So they don’t know who’s going to come down or if someone is going to ever be there. It just works better.”
The sheriff’s office did something similar in the past, but someone left a position and the office pulled the deputy back to general coverage, Pernsteiner said. The position hasn’t been funded since, he added.
Nole said when he started with the department, there was a designated Port Ludlow deputy.
Pernsteiner said that the position could be likened to the existing roles on the west side of Jefferson County, where the sheriffs office has two deputies, one on at any given time. People get to know and trust that officer, said Pernsteiner
Additional training
Commissioner Kate Dean inquired with Nole and Pernsteiner about whether an assigned deputy might receive extra training that might better equip them for community policing. In particular, she asked if cross training might present an issue with job description and collective bargaining.
“I don’t think it would present any issue,” Pernsteiner responded. “The way the job description is, is ‘other duties assigned by the sheriff’.”
Dean said she thinks now is a good time to discuss what the community needs, and if that means something broader than just patrolling.
“Some of the roles that I could see this person playing are to act somewhat like our navigators do,” Dean said in a later interview. “They’re trained in the resources that are available to folks in crisis. They can refer them for all kinds of services, whether it’s transportation or food or mental health counseling or medical help. It would be great for this deputy to be able to respond to a lot of different kinds of circumstances, not just the ones that we think of them confronting as a patrol officer.”
Dean said the Port Townsend Police Department, East Jefferson Fire Rescue and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office each have Navigator programs.
“These are folks who have some mental health training and get called to different situations where people need help, where traditional law enforcement is not exactly what they need,” Dean said.
Dean said she would be interested in seeing an assigned deputy gain the skillset of a navigator, too.
“Deputies do this all the time,” she said. “They are obviously the first responders to all sorts of situations that they have to be able to respond to with a broad toolbox. It would be nice if this person had training since they would be dedicated to that geography specifically, instead of having to call in additional help.”
If funding for the position is approved, it may still take some time for the south county position to be staffed. The office will may also have to backfill the position in Port Hadlock, said Pernsteiner. Depending on some variables, the deputy could be in the community as soon as early spring, he said.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
