Election Interview: Brent Johnson Runs for County Sheriff

Sheriff Bill Cumming has served for 24 years as San Juan County Sheriff. Orcas Issues presents profiles of the two candidates hoping to succeed Cumming: Brent Johnson and Rob Nou. This interview with Brent Johnson will be followed by a similar article with Rob Nou. The two articles are courtesy of in-person interviews with the two candidates.

The County Sheriff supervises eight officers on San Juan Island, five on Orcas and three on Lopez Island, as well as two detectives and Undersheriff Jeff Zerby. The Sheriff Department budget is $2.3 million dollars, and is paid from San Juan County’s General Fund.

Brent Johnson runs for Sheriff

After 35 years in law enforcement, Brent Johnson, currently Lead Detective with the San Juan County’s Sheriff’s office, feels that it’s time to renew the department through training and evaluation.

Law Enforcement Standards

Standard operating procedures need to be upgraded to nationally accredited standards, the best police practices which help departments develop the best guidance and directives for their law enforcement officers, Johnson says. He adds that evaluations should be done annually – he himself has not had one in six years – and that strengths and areas of improvement noted in evaluation should be tied into training.

Although San Juan meets state law requirements of 24 hours per year per officer, Johnson feels that much of the expense and logistics of the training could be accomplished on the islands, provided by county attorneys, judges, firefighting, martial arts and domestic violence experts and drug prevention coalitions in the county.

Drug- and Alcohol-related Crime

The effect of  drug and alcohol issues on the community in general, and especially its youth, concerns Johnson, who spent years in the Albuquerque Police Department developing programs to fight drug and alcohol abuse. He says that drug and alcohol abuse often results in domestic violence and child neglect.

“I’ve seen the impact of domestic violence on families and children; it crosses all economic, ethnic, geographic lines, even though those who are wealthy may not come to law enforcement as often because they have other resources.”

In Albuquerque, the police force was required to complete a written report for every domestic violence call: the first month there were 825 reports. “These numbers helped us determine that we had to do something to change how calls were handled,” Johnson says.

He was part of a committee to decide what actions needed to be taken before attitudes about domestic violence started changing. The committee worked with legislators to make an exception to the law which limited action being taken on domestic assaults unless the assault was observed. Once charges were made, they couldn’t be dropped, even if the reporting victim (usually a woman) wanted to drop charges. “This took the pressure off the victim to drop the charges,” Johnson said.

When the violator was brought to trial and probable cause was shown at trial, the first-time conviction of six months in jail could be suspended on condition of attendance in a class created by domestic violence experts to address control and anger issues. Johnson would like to institute similar response training in San Juan County.

“Why does the domestic violence victim go back?” Johnson asked, and then surmised that issues of dependence, attachment, children and money play a part in the violent relationship as well. “Violence may be a small part of the whole relationship; but the problem is, the situation escalates and involves children.”

The primary drugs affecting the youth in San Juan county are alcohol and marijuana.  Annually 10-15 sexual assaults per year are reported to the Sheriff’s Office, although not all cases are reported; Johnson notes that DV/SAS handles over 300 clients a year.

He recalls hearing repeatedly from young victims and perpetrators alike: “If it wasn’t for drugs or alcohol – or both – I wouldn’t have been there, and I wouldn’t have made the same decisions.”

As Sheriff, he would strengthen the partnerships with DV/SAS  and the schools, to teach girls especially, “awareness and understanding of their  choices and consequences. Additionally, young males need to be taught to be responsible and respectful because their choices also have consequences.”

In the San Juans, drug abuse usually involves “lower-level” dealers, Johnson says, who buy from larger dealers both for their personal use and for sale to others.

Drug investigations are “time-consuming, costly/expensive and detail driven,” Johnson says. They often relying on informants, and the drawback of “everyone knowing everyone” in a small community presents challenges both in victims coming forward and in informants being recognized.

This year, five dealers have been apprehended and a sixth suspect  is expected to be brought to court.

Immigration

Johnson notes that the apprehension of undocumented immigrants is enforcement of federal law. However, he says, “Locally, we don’t ask people for papers, nor will we start.”

He explained that if an individual is arrested for a violation of the law and we believe he is in our country illegally then we will make  a call to Federal authorities and let them determine if they will place an immigrations hold on that indivdual.

The Guardian

Another important aspect of the Sheriff’s job, unique to the San Juans, that Johnson is committed to mastering is the handling of the Sheriff’s boat, the Guardian, which doubles as an ambulance boat for the county.

“Running it during the day is one thing, but when it’s too foggy and the weather is too extreme for Air Lift or Coast Guard to respond it is essential to the county that the Guardian be available for emergencies and get people to the hospitals.  Currently, Sheriff Cumming and Jim Ricks are experienced U.S. Coast Guard trained captains and have vast knowledge of our waters.  Johnson plans to accompany them on trips in order to be experienced in navigating the rocks, currents and weather incident to transporting islanders to mainland hospitals.

Budget

While Sheriff Bill Cumming kept the department’s budget process under close wraps, Johnson says he will involve the under sheriff, the chief civil deputy and “both my sergeants” in learning exactly what is covered in the 20% discretionary budget and to work with the council. Johnson is adamant that the sheriff’s department mandate to provide for the safety of citizens is one of the principle functions of government. He expects as Sheriff to work with the Council over the course of the year “to understand where the money is going and why we need to work together for the safety of citizens.

“We’re already lacking the 24-hour coverage that is available on the mainland, with backup available. Before the Sheriff’s department budget is cut, “everyone else has to get cut first,” Johnson insists. ”We can’t cut staff and still have safety,

With the county comprising three main islands and a number of other inhabited islands with small populations, Johnson recognizes that each island has a unique culture.

”Community policing is an important concept; it is in my blood as I have been doing it for many years. With that in mind, how the officers respond on each island may be different; but law enforcement should be about even-handedness and fairness, even though it’s handled in a particular way.

“Assigning officers from other islands eight hours every month or two goes against the concept of community policing,” Johnson says, as it takes years to learn each island’s unique personality and this is one reason why officers are assigned to an island. In addition, the cost would be high when you add in transportation and the loss of productivity due to travel time.

“At the same time, as Sheriff, I can’t spend all my time on San Juan Island, and I pledge to come to Orcas and Lopez and other islands on a regular basis…. I believe in that.”