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Main Page State to take over Sheriff's Dept?
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Posted by: Barbrady

State to take over sheriff's dept?

By Daniel Axelrod
MPG Newspapers
Forget about terrorists attacking the Pilgrim nuclear power plant or pollution and global warming potentially causing health and safety hazards such as red tide.

"(Plymouth County Commissioners) Jeffrey Welch and Timothy McMullen constitute the most clear and present danger to public safety in Plymouth County - they're playing politics with public safety," Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald said.

McDonald, R-Kingston, was responding to a press release and comments by Welch calling for a temporary state takeover of the sheriff's department "in response to the chronic financial problems and runaway overspending."

Welch wants the legislature to empower Governor Mitt Romney to appoint a five-member board to oversee the department's finances.

The board would keep the sheriff in office, but make him one of the board's appointees.

McMullen, who's chairman of the three-member board of county commissioners, has publicly criticized McDonald's department alleging financial mismanagement.

Welch and McMullen supported previous sheriff Joseph McDonough, D-Scituate, who lost in a nasty and tightly contested election this past November.

McMullen did not return calls for comment to address whether his comments were politically motivated and Welch adamantly denied that notion.

"Mr. Welch's ignorance pervades his foolish comments, which defy reality," McDonald said. "His lack of knowledge is profound and unbelievable and I'm wondering what's going through this man's head because this guy's really out of his mind."

Welch attacked McDonald's hiring of 24 additional corrections officers, which cost the county $500,000 in training costs alone.

He also accused sheriff McDonald of creating "new high-paying administrative positions filled with friends, political supporters and campaign contributors" ranging in salary from $70,000 to more than $80,000.

Since taking office in January, McDonald created a deputy chief of staff position for friend Andrew Parks, made high school friend and campaign manager Paul Chiano a program director and hired Diana Lothrop - who helped McDonald during his transition into office - for the new post of director of administration and finance.

When Lothrop stepped down McDonald said announced he was replacing her $87,554 salary with the two new salaries of Jack Franey ($65,860), the former Plymouth County auditor, as well as John Finnerty ($87,554) as the new director of administration and finance.

"McDonald's profligate spending habits and cronyism are a threat to public safety," Welch said.

Welch disparaged McDonald for awarding at least two recent settlement payouts to the union representing the prison's employees for grievances against the previous sheriff.

The county commissioner also said closing the guard shack at the prison entrance reduced safety along the prison's perimeter and criticized the sheriff because the department still owes the jail's vendors nearly $1 million yet the union received money owed on stipends for physical training.

All the controversy surrounding the way the sheriff's department is run revolves around its deficit.

How big is the deficit?

McDonald estimates the sheriff's department could be more than $4 million over budget.

He attributes the budget deficit to "out of control litigation expenses we'll live with for years to come" left over from McDonough's tenure, about $2 million in overtime costs to man the jail and an overall decline in the number of federal inmates in the system.

An auditor's report by state auditor Joseph DeNucci's office conducted at the request of McDonald when he was sworn into office in January tentatively estimated that the sheriff's department is short $690,000 short for its operating budget and down more than $800,000 in revenue to operate the jail.

But the state auditor's office wouldn't set the sheriff's total deficit in stone citing too many unforeseen potential costs such as pending litigation left over from McDonough's reign.

"The roughly $600,000 deficit is all we could document," Glenn Briere, a spokesman for state auditor Joe DeNucci, said.

"We said in the audit there were so many uncertainties facing the sheriff's department that it was impossible to come up with all the possible ways the budget was in deficit," Briere said.

Briere wasn't aware of any precedent for the state taking over a specific county department though he did say the state runs almost half of the 15 counties.

Briere added that some counties, such as Essex, were taken over by the state while others are state-run because its simply more efficient.

Some of the counties taken over by the state include Essex, Middlesex, Worcester, Hamden and Berkshire. Locally, Barnstable and Plymouth counties operate independently along with Norfolk Bristol, Dukes and Nantucket.

"Over time, some county departments like jails and houses of correction had fewer duties and became so much more dependent on state funding it made more sense to have counties operated as state funded departments," Briere said.

"The only major functions presently remaining in hands of county governments in Massachusetts are running jails and registry of deeds because generally counties handle vast areas of unincorporated land and you don't find those areas in this state," Briere said.

Officials from the state's Executive Office for Administration & Finance were unavailable to comment on how a state takeover of the sheriff's department would work and even Welch wasn't entirely sure.

For his part, McDonald said the lack of duties of the current county government shows it should be dismantled.

As for the Plymouth County sheriff department's deficit, the state house and senate Committee on Ways and Means in mid June approved an extra $1.5 million to help with its budget deficit as part of $79.5 million of emergency supplemental spending across the state.

Meanwhile, the state's 2005 audit affirmed the bulk of that revenue deficit comes from the declining the number of federal inmates in the county jail.

Plymouth receives more than $80 as a per day housing fee for such prisoners.

Locally though, the federal government is housing a greater number of inmates at the Essex County House of Corrections.

The Stafford County facility in New Hampshire recently reopened after a long closure absorbing many federal inmates

The Essex jail was built in part with federal funds. It's charging in the $60 range to house federal inmates, according to McDonald.

Another financial problem facing the jail is that the sheriff's department must potentially have to spend nearly $1 million to pick up the cost of retirement and medical benefits for corrections officers who hired after 1991.

The county recently shifted that cost to the sheriff's department claiming it's now the department's job to get the state to fulfill a 1991 memorandum of understanding issued by Governor William Weld that the state would take over all funding and related costs for houses of corrections.

Even the town of Plymouth is in on the act, claiming the department owes $400,000 to $600,000 because the town spent the last three years under-billing the sheriff's department by a factor of 10 for water and sewer service.

Altogether, the county is seeking nearly $1 million more from the sheriff's department toward the county pension fund, plus almost $1 million for the retired benefits.

McDonald sees those requests as politically motivated attacks on his department to sabotage his efforts to get the department's finances straight.

"These clowns Welch and McMullen whacked us with these costs and they're holding me hostage with that and now they want to criticize me?" McDonald said.

"Instead of working together with me to try to get the state to pay this they just suddenly threw (the cost of retired employees' benefits) in my lap as a cop out," McDonald added.

County Commissioner and Sheriff square off

Welch may have supported McDonough during the election, but Welch bristled at the notion that his campaign to have the state temporarily take over the sheriff's department's finances is politically motivated.

"It doesn't matter who it is running the department it appears there's a structural deficit at the department and the state needs to come in and take a look at how things run and see they run smoothly," Welch said.

"I'm asking for a Republican governor to appoint people of his choosing. If the (financial problems) are something that existed under McDonough, I don't see any problem with the state coming in and fixing things so the department is left with a stable budget because if we let things go the state may have to take over the jail outright if this goes on another couple years."

To Welch, McDonald is the one whose decisions are influenced by politics.

"Within 15 minutes of being sworn in, McDonald fired 23 corrections professionals for political reasons even though on the campaign trail he said he'd give people a chance to keep their job by interviewing them," Welch said.

"Those firings cost the county $200,000 in unemployment claims and the list of firings was indistinguishable from a Joe McDonough supporter list, yet McDonald didn't even spend a week interviewing them," Welch added.

McDonald called the firing of the 23 employees "money well spent" and added Welch inflated the unemployment claims costs by $20,000 more than they actually were.

"I couldn't interview these people and talk to them because the previous administration barred me from coming and speaking to them," McDonald said.

Welch countered that it is illegal for McDonald to interview county employees before he officially took office and that when he did become sheriff McDonald hired a childhood buddy to be director of programs.

"Welch is citing a fictitious state law," McDonald said. "The previous administration tried to prevent me from making a smooth transition by barring me from walking in and interviewing people so I made a lot of hiring decisions without interviews."

"I fired three cousins of McDonough and his ex-wife was the director of programs - a position for which she had no qualifications," McDonald said.

Chiano, McDonald's new director of programs, has a master's degree from Villanova and experience with the Suffolk County Sheriff's department and a trainer for the federal government's prison bureau, McDonald said.

Spending more to save more?

The new sheriff said creating new posts to manage the department's finances will lead to the department saving more money in the long run because finances will be better managed.

But Welch attacked McDonald's creation of new posts - such as deputy chief of staff, a department auditor and a director of administration and finance - calling them patronage jobs and adding that in previous administrations the sheriff's chief of staff handled the department's finances.

"Once again Welch's ignorance pervades here - this guy knows so little he doesn't know what he doesn't know," McDonald said.

"We actually have eight fewer administration jobs then under McDonough," McDonald added.

New positions to address the sheriff's department's finances were created because even when the auditor's office audited the department in 2003 it found a $2.7 million deficit, McDonald said.

The chief of staff is meant to manage the prison's officers when the sheriff leaves the prison to handle numerous other responsibilities, McDonald said.

The 2003 auditor's report criticized the department for not having a cost accounting system.

McDonald hired a certified public accountant and a former state auditor were part of creating such an oversight process nowadays, according to McDonald.

McDonald also shot back that he inherited the department's financial difficulties from McDonough.

"Mr. Welch approved the hirings of John Finnerty as our new director and Jack Franey as an auditor in the finance department so it's ironic he'd vote to approve their employment last week and then say this is a problem," McDonald said.

McDonald added that McDonough's mismanagment included not having a formal contract to handle $8 million worth of food services for the prisoners, not putting the contract out to bid and even spending the profits made on canteen knick-knacks bought by prisoners on feeding them instead of putting the money toward extra programs for the inmates.

"I'd love to have a reintegration program or have an alcohol or domestic violence councilor, but instead that money was spent on food, which that it was not intended to be spent on," McDonald said.

McDonald thinks the key to improving the sheriff's department lies in cutting off what the department doesn't need and can't afford.

The sheriff estimates shutting down the guard shack check point at the entrance will save the department $180,000 this year alone and McDonald thinks security has actually been bolstered because the money is being better spent with roving patrols of officers with drug sniffing dogs around the perimeter.

The sheriff's office's core mission is handling the 1,549 inmates in the county jail in addition to serving notices for the courts and providing support to state and local police.

So to cut costs, McDonald is also looking into shutting down the sheriff's department's criminal bureau of investigation, a move Welch criticized.

"The BCI is like (the CBS television show Crime Scene Investigation) here in Plymouth County," Welch said. "They investigate crimes, do fingerprinting in towns like Plympton that can't afford to investigate crimes or they have to call state police crime lab, which is really backed up."

"The idea of eliminating that is ridiculous because I don't think you're going to see corrections officers from the jail out dusting for fingerprints," Welch said.

McDonald countered Welch's statements were yet another example of his ignorance.

"BCI is nothing like CSI, we offer supplementation to local police in terms of photos and fingerprints, but we're not doing DNA," McDonald said.

"The state police are coming into the Plymouth County sheriff's office soon to install a state of the art crime lab headquarters for the southeast region of Massachusetts and they're going to handle all that type of stuff so I'm sorry to say Mr. Welch is opining about things he has no clue about once again," McDonald said.

Their pound of flesh

Welch was particularly critical of McDonald hiring of 24 new corrections officers, recently settlement of disputes with union employees and the creation of an in-house legal team.

To keep paying the prison's 458 full-time employees salaries, McDonald also stopped paying vendors, which are owed $1 million - another move Welch cited to illustrate McDonald's lack of fiscal responsibility.

McDonald fired back he didn't want to have a repeat incident to what happened in 2003.

Back then, employees went without paychecks because of the department's budget problems under McDonough. Plus, state funding will cover the money owed to vendors, McDonald said.

The 38-year-old former assistant district attorney added that hiring two attorneys will save the department thousands - during the last two years the department spent $1.5 million on outside firms' legal fees - as the department finishes handling the glut of litigation built up under McDonough.

But Welch doesn't buy any of it.

"The unions endorsed Joe McDonald and with their support they have come looking for their pound of flesh so settling these grievances is a payoff to the union bosses as was putting through that class of cadets," Welch said.

Welch claims the new sheriff shouldn't be hiring new employees and administrators during the first year of his term when the number of inmates is declining.

"Welch's lack of knowledge is so profound you could fill a book with what he doesn't know about corrections," McDonald said.

"The premise that there's fewer inmates isn't true since our capacity is 1,600 inmates and our head count as of July was 1,549 inmates. Just because the jail was given an accreditation to operate with a lower number of officers in the past doesn't mean we weren't short 38 officers and that's what led to huge overtime costs," McDonald added.

During fiscal year 2005, the jail was allotted $600,000 in overtime funds, but ended up spending more than $2 million, according to the rookie sheriff.

McDonald argued the $500,000 cost of putting two classes cadets through the officer training far outweighed overtime costs and will continue to save the department money - especially when the sheriff's department works with other local sheriff's departments to split the cost of sending more future cadets for training.

Meanwhile, corrections employee union head Larry Boucher, one of the grievances settled involved a move by McDonough in November 2004 in which the sheriff implemented an increase in the number of prisoners housed in the jail without or a bed increase without increasing the number of security staff.

The grievance worked its way through several levels of appeals and even to an arbitrator and the union won at all levels, but McDonough continued to fight, Boucher said.

Another grievance dated back to December of 2000 when the previous sheriff removed all union workers from the county and staffed it with only non-union workers.

Again, the union won its case at every level including in court, but the sheriff continued to fight as the overtime payments in the case accrued thousands of dollars in interest.

"For Welch to insinuate that the sheriff is a puppet of the union and that that's why he settled grievances and hired more officers to work for the institution is extremely offensive," Boucher said.

"This is Politics 101 and of course I'm surprised it started because sheriff's campaign for reelection isn't until 2010, but McMullen is running for reelection soon and he and Welch were McDonough supporters so Welch is launching a coordinated attack (to cause bad publicity for McDonald)."

Posted by: dcs2244

Too bad. Maybe if the counties (and cities, Springfield comes to mind, as well as Chelsea), spent their money appropriately, the state wouldn't have to waste its meager resources on these dogs and thereby deprive state entities of adequate funding.

Posted by: mpd61

Sounds like this new sheriff has articulate and factual answers for Mr. Welch. Imagine closing BCI cuz the MSP is setting up a regional lab in Southeast Mass? Sounds like a $$$ saver to me.

Settling grievances and hiring more C.O.'s Hmmm........sounds like better work conditions @ PCHOC

Posted by: mapd

I say its about time to strip these Sheriffs depts. waaaay down and get their budgets back in line.

They can start by selling off all those excess cruisers, clean out some political hack brass, loose the marine units, the horse units, the k9 units and start focusing on THIER JOB.

There are many, many state PD's that would welcome the freed-up budget money so that they could (god forbid) add services needed by their communities.

For some reasons, the Sheriff depts in Mass. are in this mad grab for money, power and expansion. They don't seem to get that the State doesn't want them to expand, nor do most Towns. And we getting a little sick of them forcing this expansion on us when nobody asks them for it. Run the jails and do it well, we'll take care of the rest. If we want specific regional police services, then we will form regional agreements with other POLICE DEPARTMENTS to meet the need.

This has really got to come to an end. We just can't afford it any longer. Maybe its time to just roll the Sheriff Dept into the D.O.C and they can run the jails. At least we could count on them to stick to the actual running of the jails.

Posted by: dcs2244

The best way to assuage the sheriffs' quest for power is to place them under the control of the MSP colonel:

To: Shire Reeves, high and otherwise;

From: MSP Colonel;

Subject: What you are allowed to do;

Date: The near future;

Citizen:

Henceforth, you shall be responsible for the maintenance of the gaol and the employees and clients thereof. Further, you shall train and equip a "special weapons" force to respond to internal strife. Lastly, you shall have no "police powers" outside the walls of the gaol, except as it relates to prisoners under your control, or under control of another agency.

That is all.

Respectfully submitted,

Colonel of the State Police.

That'd put paid to the idea of ever expanding roles of the SO in the police world. Take care of your gaol, and forget marine/road/airwing BS...you are the sheriff, a jailor. Period. (this is intended for MA only, not states with a REAL county government where the sheriff is the premier law enforcement guy in the county (and the DA is not).

Posted by: firefighter39

So now what are all the hacks going to do? Be forced to get real jobs??

In all seriousness, now maybe the hardworking people in the jails will get the tools and pay that they need

Posted by: mpd61

What precipitated the reactivation of this Garbage?

Posted by: kwflatbed

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpd61

What precipitated the reactivation of this Garbage?

mapd

;
Junior Member
MassCops Rookie

Posted by: SGT_GRUNT_USMC

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barbrady

"The BCI is like (the CBS television show Crime Scene Investigation) here in Plymouth County," Welch said."

Yeah, too bad's it's not even close to the TV CSI or the real LVMPD CSI team the show is based on.

Posted by: mapd

Yea...well its a valid point.

Funny, the only people who take exception to posts questioning the Sheriff Depts are...hmmmm...lets see....Sheriffs and other non-police officers.

Hey, all of our Police Departments are starving for cash...sell the millions of dollars worth of equipment that you don't need and stop grabbing federal grants for "marine units" or whatever other nonsense the moneys getting wasted on.

Don't you realize that the Sheriff's constant expansion efforts don't help..it hurts. It takes away from every Police Department in the State.

In Mass..We don't need Sheriffs to police work, we have police departments which do that. We need you to operate the jails. Period. Now please do that as inexpensively as possible.

Posted by: SinePari

I'm no supporter of the SD in the commonwealth, but Mr. Welch is county commissioner who ALSO should be out of a job. Make government SMALLER, not bigger. Less county hack-o-ramas. All should be state-run DOC facilities.

Let's start a pool for how many replies this thread gets after one week. I'll take 40.

Posted by: dcs2244

Why does a county need a commissioner...when counties no longer exist here? They have no power to levy taxes...any funding comes from the state. County anything, including sheriff, is moribund here.

I'm sure the MDC Rangers can use those boats, MCSO!

Posted by: tarc

dcs,

That would be a good letter; however, (unless I just didn't see it) you need to include in the letter the following: in addition, you will accept all person's who have been placed under arrest by any state or local police department, and that person is unable to secure bail within 6 hours. It shall be the sheriff's responsibility to pick up said prisoners from the local jails and transport them back to the county facility, where they can either make bail or the sheriff's office will transport them to court the next day court is in session.

Posted by: dcs2244

Tarc,

I can't do it all myself! How about "...and you shall wear french maid uniforms during the course of your duties...".

Got a visual yet? Maybe we should include a section concerning shaving...nothing worse than a gal(guy) in a french maid outfit with a hairy back!

Oh, and they have to sing "I'm so Ronery" at the start of each shift!

Posted by: Irish Wampanoag

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarc

dcs,

That would be a good letter; however, (unless I just didn't see it) you need to include in the letter the following: in addition, you will accept all person's who have been placed under arrest by any state or local police department, and that person is unable to secure bail within 6 hours. It shall be the sheriff's responsibility to pick up said prisoners from the local jails and transport them back to the county facility, where they can either make bail or the sheriff's office will transport them to court the next day court is in session.

That would be the balls!!!!! Agree 100%

Posted by: dave7336

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarc

That would make too much sense and since this is Massachusetts....it will never happen...unfortunately...Massachusetts politics and making sense are very rarely used in the same sentence

Posted by: Killjoy

Actually, in Springfield (which is run by Sheriff Ashe, it seems the only Sheriff in the state who DOESN'T want to form a marine unit, mounted unit, etc.), the deputies often come to the barracks to pick up prisoners; last weekend the barracks had sixteen arrests during the eve shift alone! The Sheriffs said that them doing the transport "saved time". What a novel concept! How many local police and MSP barracks would love to have the sheriffs do a once-a-shift pick up? Hands?

Posted by: dave7336

Quote:

Originally Posted by Killjoy

Actually, in Springfield (which is run by Sheriff Ashe, it seems the only Sheriff in the state who DOESN'T want to form a marine unit, mounted unit, etc.), the deputies often come to the barracks to pick up prisoners; last weekend the barracks had sixteen arrests during the eve shift alone! The Sheriffs said that them doing the transport "saved time". What a novel concept! How many local police and MSP barracks would love to have the sheriffs do a once-a-shift pick up? Hands?

I think there are something like 351 cities and towns in the state so my guess would be 351 plus the State PD. Sorry if I missed a department

Posted by: DoD102

Oh my God! Here we go again. Oh BTW mapd, I've done 26 years as a police officer. Been all over this country, actually the world, and I have to ask, why is Massachusetts the only State that I know of that doesn't use sheriffs as a resource? It works well in Florida, the Carolinas, Texas, Tennessee, etc., etc. My opinion is because we care too much about politics and money here in Mass. The Chiefs don't want to give up their little rein of control. Fact is, there's plenty of work to go around for everyone. Oh well, this horse has been beat to death so many times here it's not funny. I'll shut up now and go back to work. BTW, this is just my opinion. I'm sure it'll piss off you "REAL" police officers. Oh and, no, I'm not affiliated with a SD. I was an actual cop for all those years. Anyway, here's to ya....

Posted by: USMCTrooper

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarge439

why is Massachusetts the only State that I know of that doesn't use sheriffs as a resource? It works well in Florida, the Carolinas, Texas, Tennessee, etc., etc.

Actually Massachusetts is not the only state, Connecticut abolished them entirely several years ago. There are no sheriff depts. there. Some areas of RI and NY have slowly started moving that way, mostly for financial reasons. If you think about it, in New York County, Kings County, etc there are no sheriffs. Its all run by the NYPD and NYDOC. The police in Nassau County and Suffolk County are POLICE, not sheriff.

Why it "works" in Florida, the Carolinas, Texas, Tennessee, etc etc is during the formidable years (1800's) the position of sheriff was the only one in existance in those places. County is still a form of government there. Remember the term "marshal"? They were once top dog in those places too. They still exist but not to the level they once were.

Posted by: DoD102

Thanks, I learn something new everyday.

Posted by: SinePari

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarge439

I have to ask, why is Massachusetts the only State that I know of that doesn't use sheriffs as a resource? It works well in Florida, the Carolinas, Texas, Tennessee, etc., etc.

A sincere answer to your question is that those states usually have a lot of areas that are unicorporated, and county gov't is still widely used. Those smaller towns/cities will have contracts with the Sheriffs Depts to have patrol deputies, but the town still pays. California is a good example. These are also generally states with a Highway Patrol instead of a full-service SP.

Posted by: Killjoy

There also is very little reason for a "county government" in Mass.....back in the 1700's when it took someone 3 days to travel from the Berkshires to Boston, it made a certain amount of sense to have a county seat. Nowadays, its redundant and a waste of taxpayer money. Also, unlike states with patrolling deputies, there are no competitive examinations, academies or even standards for deputy sheriffs, hence their non-existent role in law enforcement outside the walls of their jails.

Posted by: Wolfman

Another thing to consider is that in some of the states you mention and down south in general, cops make very little - quite a few qualify for government assistance - and patrol augmentation is necessary due to a general lack of qualified police officers. Is this also "doing it right"?

Posted by: SinePari

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfman

Another thing to consider is that in some of the states you mention and down south in general, cops make very little - quite a few qualify for government assistance - and patrol augmentation is necessary due to a general lack of qualified police officers. Is this also "doing it right"?

And those are usually the deputies/cops that go overseas to make $100K in Iraq. If you can make that here, with green grass every where, why would you go to that shit hole. I spoke with a few deputies/cops/even troopers from the south that have second non-LE jobs to make ends meet.

Posted by: texdep

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfman

What are you talking about????
If I understand what wou are saying than I can say Texas is not one of those states.

Posted by: mapd

I was going to reply...but I see it was done for me (very well I might add)

Posted by: mpd61

Quote:

Originally Posted by mapd

Funny, the only people who take exception to posts questioning the Sheriff Depts are...hmmmm...lets see....Sheriffs and other non-police officers.

Don't you realize that the Sheriff's constant expansion efforts don't help..it hurts. It takes away from every Police Department in the State.

.

Ahhhhh.........O.K. mapd,

that "non-police officer" comment was quite benevolent.

As pointed out earlier, if the P.C. Sheriff is going to cease operating the BCI when the MSP gets the Southeast Massachusetts Regional Crime Lab established, and he DOES NOT have deputies on PATROL anywhere in Plymouth County..........How is that "constant expansion efforts" ?

Please endeavor to be articulate and focus on the scope of this particular thread without the inflammatory and irrelevant comments. Thanks and have a wonderful day!

Posted by: 48Weeks

Couldn't agree more. The Sheriffs should be trained as police officers + correctional officers. Works great in other parts of the country. EX: California (LA area) has the California Highway Patrol, LA County Sheriffs (real Cops) and the LAPD. The Highway Patrol concentrates mainly on patrolling the highways and commercial vehicle code enforcement. The LAPD handles all crime in their city themselves. The Sheriffs patrol unincorporated areas as well as small cities and towns which contract out to them + they have Investigators (for major crime) that assist small depts. with their major crime. The Sheriffs on top of that handle the jails etc. California Law Enforcement is very squared away and their academy training is app. 27 - 28 weeks on average. In my opinion the more COPS out there the better. PS: I do understand that many current Deputies in this state do not have the appropriate training, that would need to change. Stay safe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarge439

Oh my God! Here we go again. Oh BTW mapd, I've done 26 years as a police officer. Been all over this country, actually the world, and I have to ask, why is Massachusetts the only State that I know of that doesn't use sheriffs as a resource? It works well in Florida, the Carolinas, Texas, Tennessee, etc., etc. My opinion is because we care too much about politics and money here in Mass. The Chiefs don't want to give up their little rein of control. Fact is, there's plenty of work to go around for everyone. Oh well, this horse has been beat to death so many times here it's not funny. I'll shut up now and go back to work. BTW, this is just my opinion. I'm sure it'll piss off you "REAL" police officers. Oh and, no, I'm not affiliated with a SD. I was an actual cop for all those years. Anyway, here's to ya....

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