Sheriff Suggests Specifics, Resource Officer

PRESCOTT - The Walla Walla County Sher- iff John Turner visited the Prescott City Coun- cil meeting last Monday night with ideas to improve the specifics in the city's law enforcement contract as well as suggesting a school resource officer be shared between Waitsburg and Prescott schools.

Turner presented crime statistics gathered in Waitsburg and Prescott in 2011 and 2012 and looked at the differences between the city contracts. Waitsburg's is specific, with a set number of patrol hours. Prescott's contract costs the city $19,000 each year, but does not specify how many hours of coverage this gets the city.

Currently, there are deputies serving the county all hours of the day in 12-hour shifts, Turner said. The sheriff's office also has a new crime ana- lyst who helps determine "trends and hot spots" to help deputies stop crimes, he added.

Despite recent criticism from the Prescott council on behalf of members of the community who say the deputies are not present in Prescott often enough, Turner assured the group that his office is currently "way ahead of the game" with handling crime in Prescott. How- ever, he said the contract between the sheriff's of- fice and the city needs to be improved.

"I really think we can do a better job in your contract," he said.

Turner suggested Prescott could continue to pay $19,000 a year and have 6.97 hours of dedi- cated Prescott coverage each week. That's 362.59 hours per year.

Sgt. Jim Romine with the sheriff's office said if the city wanted to, like Waitsburg, it could help decide how deputies spend their contracted hours in Prescott. In Waitsburg, the deputies help radar in school zones and on Preston Avenue, and watch for mischief on Main Street.

Right now, Turner said, because there are no specifics in Prescott's con- tract, the deputies are using their judgment as to how to spend their time.

Because the Prescott council had discussed looking into the option of sharing a full-time deputy with Waitsburg to improve public safety, Turner said he had a simi- lar idea to put on the table. He said the cities and the schools could help pay for a school resource officer at both school districts in the cities.

The resource officer is a sheriff's office dep- uty who would work out of the schools, radar in school zones, help reduce consumption of drugs and alcohol and help curb rowdy parties.

Turner said the local entities, cities and schools, would pay for the officer during the school year. The officer would have to be approved by the county because the county would pay the deputy to cover Waitsburg and Prescott areas during the summer months.

In addition to having a much more visible deputy, a resource officer could leave school and respond to local emergencies in the cities, if needed, Turner added.

He reminded the council that he is happy to continue communicating to come up with the best contract.

Councilman Doug Venn said he favored more specifics in the contract and appreciated the statistics and suggestions from Turner.

"This certainly moves the discussion along," Venn said.