Sheriff Gives Quarterly Update

WAITSBURG – Walla Walla County Sheriff John Turner presented his quarterly sheriff's office update at Waitsburg's July 21 city council meeting. Turner took advantage of the full house – most were in attendance to learn more about Nestle's interest in potentially building a bottling facility in Waitsburg – to address what he says is a strong need for a dedicated county drug and task force.

In his update, Turner said he was pleased that the sheriff's office has received 219 calls from Waitsburg through June of this year, as opposed to 247 for the entirety of 2015.

"That doesn't necessarily equate to more crime or more problems. We really don't want people feeling funny about calling 911 or the dispatch line. We really want your calls," Turner said. He said that, too often, deputies show up after a crime has been reported to have neighbors relay that they saw something unusual but were reluctant to call it in.

Most of the call and crime statistics were in line with last year's except for a jump in domestic calls, up from four in 2015 to nine in the first half of 2016. Recorded crimes for Violation of Protection Orders jumped from one in 2015 to four in the first half of 2016. Turner said there are one or two "multiple call locations" that account for the increase in statistics.

Council member KC Kuykendall commented on the uptick in crime in Walla Walla County and asked Turner what was being done toward prevention. Turner said crime really hasn't increased county-wide and that crime statistics last year were lower than the year before. He said the county has had a steep uptick in criminal drug and gang activity, homicides, and drug overdose deaths, which get a lot of media attention.

"Gangs and drugs are really becoming an issue in our community. And if we don't get a hold of them now, my fear is that things are going to happen in our county that have happened in other counties across the state," Turner said.

Turner said he was mentored by former Yakima County Sheriff Ken Irwin who has cautioned Turner that Walla Walla County is where Yakima was 20-25 years ago.

"He said Yakima was a really nice rural community that gangs saw an opportunity to come and we did not put resources towards it when it was small. 'We didn't recognize the graffiti; we didn't recognize the problems. We didn't recognize what we were dealing with and it absolutely exploded on us and we have spent millions and millions and millions of dollars and dozens of people have lost their lives,'" Turner said, quoting Irwin.

Turner went on to say that even Paddock Elevators, located at Paddock and Harvey Shaw Roads, have now been marked with graffiti.

"That means they've claimed that territory and they're out there with their guns and their drugs and their alcohol, and they're doing things. And we're seeing more and more gang graffiti in Touchet and Burbank. We have a huge gang overflow problems from Pasco," he said.

Turner said there has been a "huge uptick" in motorcycle gang activity. He said last summer the FBI served three warrants in a row on the Gypsy Jokers motorcycle gang clubhouse, which put many in prison and the rest scattered.

"That left a void and a vacancy so we have the Banditos and Mongols from the west side battling over this territory with the Hell's Angels from Spokane...over Memorial Day weekend we had over 600 patched gang members at a convention, if you will, about how to claim this area as theirs. They're often in The Tux where we go for Jason Burgers," he said.

Turner said that with only patrol deputies and one detective, the sheriff's department doesn't have the necessary resources to combat the gang and drug activity.

"This one detective is trying to figure out where to start with 700 felonies," Turner said. He added that they typically only have three deputies per shift to cover the entire county.

Turner said he is always "painted as the bad buy for going for more resources" but that most departments of their size, covering 1300 square miles, have a drug or gang unit.

"We know how to do that. We would like to do that. We just don't have the resources," he said. He also said the department would be willing to try and work with the county commissioners to generate extra revenue to help fund a two-man gang and drug unit to partner with the City of Walla Walla gang and drug unit.

Turner's concerns were validated the following week when the sheriff's office issued a press release stating that deputies had been dispatched to Paddock Elevators at 7:05 p.m. on July 27 to respond to a gang-related shooting. The victim, 20-year-old Diego Bante-Rivera of Walla Walla, was able to call for help and was flown to St. Mary's Medical Center and then to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

In the release, Turner noted that Paddock Elevators had been a location of concern shared with the county commissioners when he requested funding for a criminal gang and drug unit.