Commentary by Samuel Strait – March 27, 2023 Things could be worse for the Del Norte County's Sheriff, as we have recently learned the Fresno County sheriff is dealing with the fall out of having a local resident of Fresno, California being arrested and booked for the tenth time in the last thirty one days. Talk about a frequent flyer. Unfortunately our local sheriff is dealing with problems of his own, a County Jail in desperate need of a make over, and a inmate population nearing maximum capacity for the current facility. Much of this phenomena has to do with the lifting of the pandemic policy mandate which severely limited the jail's capacity. Recently, with restrictions lifted, the facility's capacity of 115 inmates is being pressed to its limit at over 80% full. Of course, as usual, much of the difficulty's that the sheriff faces has to do with policies coming out of the State's liberal government and governor. Soft on crime, early releases, and incarcerations pushed from State institutions being shuttered, to cause much of the necessary burden of incarceration left to local County jails. Such as it is, Sheriff Scott's main focus has been on major felony inmates, and those commitments that are a safety concern for the community. We seem to be extremely fortunate that we have a sheriff in office whose ultimate concern is to our County. Clearly, the County Board of Supervisors do not share that commitment as they are continually loading up on the sheriff with new responsibilities, new ordinances to enforce, and the failure to understand the strict limitations with which the sheriff has to operate his department. Short staffed in most areas, including corrections, has left him scrambling to run his department effectively. Corrections, currently operating at much less than full staff, is in the process of adding nine new employees to fill some of the short fall. Due to the difficulties surrounding public attitudes about policing in general, the sheriff should be commended for taking the steps he did to increase his staff. Sheriff Scott has also begun re instating some of the programs that lapsed during the pandemic, drug counseling and the like. While things at the sheriff's station will not change over night from the situation handed to the sheriff when he took office, it appears progress has been made. With the rehabilitation funding for the County's jail secured to the tune of $3 million, future upgrades to the facility will certainly come with a brighter future going forward. Let's hope Sheriff Scott can continue to develop his plan for better service to this County as soon as possible. The sheriff's department has had a history of failed expectations for many decades, with only a few bright spots along the way. Money for the jail, new hires at all parts of the sheriff's department, new equipment, time for the sheriff to settle in for the long term and continue with his progress.