By RICHARD NEBELLos Alamos
I would like to commend the county council for tabling the resolution on determining the Sheriff’s responsibilities.
While I don’t mind having a Sheriff, I don’t think he should have any policing powers. It doesn’t make any sense to transfer any policing powers from a professional police force to a patronage politician. If you want to see what that looks like, take a look at former Sheriff Tommy Rodella down in Rio Arriba county.
He was convicted of pulling a gun on a citizen during a traffic stop. He’s now serving 10 years in a federal prison.
Granted, Sheriff Rodella is an extreme example. But it’s not as extreme as you might think. My first encounter with a New Mexico Sheriff’s department was with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department (where Lucero used to work) back in 1980. We were having lunch in a Wendy’s when two Deputy Sheriffs walked in.
One of them was packing a .357 magnum while the other one had a .45 ACP. This was a time when standard police issue firearms were a .38 caliber revolver. Then I looked out the window at their police cruiser. It had a mini-14 (assault rifle) in the back window with a 30 round banana clip.
Obviously, these guys had been watching too many “Dirty Harry” movies.
You would have thought they were going to war rather than policing the county. At the very least, it looked highly unprofessional. My impression was that these deputies were a couple of yahoos who were well enough connected politically to get a job in the Sheriff’s Department.
When you think about it, it makes sense. A job as a Deputy Sheriff is probably either a 4 or maybe an 8 year gig. That isn’t going to appeal to someone who wants a professional career in law enforcement, but it will to a political hack.
So, why would anyone want to transfer policing powers to a patronage politician? The claim the proponents are making is that they need someone to investigate the corruption in the County Council. They need someone who is directly responsible to the public.
Perhaps I’m just a cynical old SOB who grew up in Illinois, but I suspect that the exact opposite is true. Got a speeding ticket? Drop a $100 in the Sheriff’s re-election fund. Go out and join the Fraternal Order of Police so they can give you one of those stickers for your back window. The Chicago Police under the reign of King Richard the First (Richard J. Daly) used to run a scam similar to this.
The standard operating procedure was to keep your Driver’s License in a money clip along with a $20 bill. If you got pulled over, you handed the package to the police officer. He’d go check you out with his police radio. When he came back with your license and money clip, he’d say “Have a nice day!” and send you on your way. Minus the $20.
Finally, the thing that really frosted my butt was the Sheriff and Mr. White trying to intimidate the Council by threatening to file lawsuits. The Council’s response by tabling the resolution was exactly the right thing to do. If Mr. White and Sheriff Lucero want to file lawsuits, let them.
Every year that you postpone giving the Sheriff his way, you save $200,000. You can do a lot of litigating for $200,000 per year, particularly when you already have a full time legal staff.