Editorial: Sheriff’s office success is vital for us all

Published 9:54 am Thursday, July 20, 2023

Sheriff Daniel Garcia is a sincere young man and we share his devotion to making Pacific County as law abiding and safe as possible. We often run stories about deputies making good arrests. The Pacific County Drug Task Force, of which the sheriff’s office is a major component, appears to be gaining substantial headway in catching drug dealers. We’re glad and grateful.

There are ways in which Garcia can help himself succeed in the remainder of his term in office.

• He should set aside his professed devotion to the “constitutional sheriff” theory. He is not and will never be the county boss. And whatever his other positive attributes, he does not have the legal authority, education or background to make binding interpretations of the U.S. and Washington constitutions.

County sheriffs have partly come up with this cockamamie idea to explain why they won’t enforce firearms restrictions passed by legislatures and citizen initiatives. These tend to break between urban and rural areas. In 2018, Pacific County voters defeated firearms-safety Initiative 1639 by 55 to 45%, while it passed statewide 59 to 41%, largely thanks to strong support in the Greater Seattle area. But when it comes to rural counties, such restrictions are little more than empty symbolism. Sheriffs barely have the resources to enforce the laws everyone agrees with. Our sheriff’s office should do as well as it can at fighting problems like fentanyl and the burglary epidemic, and leave legalistic debates to the crackpots and actual constitutional scholars.

• Keep your distance from the John Birch Society and other hard-right groups. While sheriffs don’t surrender their right to associate with whomever they wish, a close embrace of the county’s tiny resurgent group of Birchers will only undercut Garcia’s credibility. Essentially QAnon under a different colored umbrella, the JBS may support Garcia’s “constitutional sheriff” dreams, but is well outside the moderate political norms of Pacific County.

For a deputy sergeant in uniform and on the clock to have attended a recent JBS gathering in Raymond is completely unacceptable. He should have been sent home immediately and been written up. It is disappointing to have to make this obvious point.

The local JBS has taken umbrage at our story about the event describing it as “private” rather than public. Their assertion is undermined by them having screened who could attend and denying even one of the club’s own members the ability to record a “public meeting” attended by an elected official. What are they trying to hide? Our correspondent was told be was unwelcome, but was outside and counted 10 attendees in total. This number included the sheriff, two deputies and one deputy’s spouse. Pretty sad for a gathering they claim to have been extensively promoted. It’s almost hard to know whether to be more embarrassed about them, or for them.

• Focus on getting personnel of every rank on the road. Garcia has made some good hires. To name one recent addition to the force, Deputy Cosmo Cozby, newly graduated from the Basic Law Enforcement Academy, is sure to be dedicated. A couple others are in the pipeline. Garcia himself is about to attend the academy and we wish him every success. Getting more law officers on local roads is of paramount importance. Coverage gaps during the night are a secret to no one, especially to would-be law breakers. The sheriff’s office must improve response times and shake things up so that criminals actively fear apprehension at every hour of the day. The budget must be managed in such a way that overtime is available when needed.

• As we told Garcia soon after he was elected, working with the county commissioners and administration is vital to his chances for success, and is one of his key responsibilities. Working hand-in-hand with the equally dedicated elected officials who control the county budget is the only way to gradually increase financial support for law enforcement. Commissioners are constrained in how they can spend money — for example some funds are narrowly designated for the Public Works Department. But like this newspaper, commissioners know that public safety in the form of law enforcement wins by a mile when it comes to the public’s priorities. Garcia should make it as easy as possible for commissioners to help him.

• Finally for now, think carefully before allowing staff to try to block or delay public records requests. Any man of the people will defend the right of the public and the press to promptly access the records that our taxes pay for.

We hope everything improves for Sheriff Garcia and his front-line staff. There’s plenty of potential there, but they have some kinks to work out. And we are always impressed by the civil-side staff led by Chief Civil Deputy Hollie Billeici and by Pacific County Communications/911. Thanks for all you do.