In January, I had the opportunity to meet with Editor Leslie Thompson with the Argus Observer to announce that I was running for re-election as the Payette County Sheriff. During the interview, we talked about staffing, emergency responder radio communications, expanding the 911 phone system, and jail overcrowding. Over this week, you will be able to hear about these topics and a few others, but today’s video focuses on our deputies’ well-being, drug enforcement, and jail population as it relates to state and federal inmates.
Over the last several years, we have seen a shift in the focus on our deputies’ well-being. Deputies see a lot of disturbing things throughout their careers. When I started my career, most deputies would not recognize the impact this had on them, nor would they ask for help. We have seen a shift in this attitude to where it is much more common for deputies to ask for help. Payette County offers an employee assistance program for our deputies. We have also worked for a local counselor to help our deputies get into someone quickly when they need to talk with them. In addition, the Payette County Sheriff’s Office is a small agency where we all know each other. We take time to talk to our staff and check on them. We talk with them regularly and try to accommodate them so that they have the opportunity to spend time with family, take time off from work, etc. These small things often go a long way in helping improve our deputies well being.
The Payette County Sheriff’s Office had a strong presence on the High Desert Drug Task Force for many years. That ended many years ago due to a lack of staff. Over the last four years, I have diligently worked to build our staffing back up to a level where the Payette County Sheriff’s Office will be able to combat the drug problems in our communities more aggressively. We have seen a sharp increase in the use of fentanyl in our communities. This harmful drug is extremely fatal at low dosages, and Payette County has seen an increase in drug overdoses due to it. In addition to fentanyl, we have many other illegal drugs in our communities. The Payette County Sheriff’s Office is committed to continuing to protect our communities from the illicit drug problem.
In the previous video, Editor Thompson and I talked about the overpopulation at the Payette County Jail. Part of that discussion also revolves around holding inmates for the State of Idaho and the Federal Government. We typically have 20-30 inmates from the State of Idaho in our custody at any given time. This represents about 1/3 of our daily inmate population. The state of Idaho is also suffering from not having enough facilities to house its own inmates. This causes them not to pick up their inmates from our facilities. Payette County does receive revenue for holding the State’s inmates; however, we do not have room for them. The Payette County Sheriff’s Office continues to work with the State of Idaho to coordinate the transportation of their inmates and move them out of our facilities. Payette County does not hold any Federal inmates. Due to our inmate population and the size of our facility, we are not able to hold any Federal inmates. The Payette County Commissioners and Sheriff’s Office are beginning to plan for a future jail expansion. This jail expansion will help us better meet the needs of our community. It will also give us an opportunity to intentionally hold inmates for other jurisdictions and bring in additional revenue. This additional revenue would help offset the cost of operating the jail facility. The plans for expanding the jail facility are just beginning. We plan to have opportunities for citizens to provide input into the jail expansion. The involvement of citizens will be an important part of this process.