— from Ron Krebs —
My name is Ron Krebs. As your next Sheriff of San Juan County, there are a number of goals that I want to achieve. There are a number of issues that I believe directly affect the communities that we serve. My goals are as follows:
- Improve communication— Increase and improve the accessibility and responsiveness of the Sheriff’s Office with the community. We are public servants and we are here to serve you, the public first and foremost. Without your input and support we cannot properly do our jobs. Good communication is the key.
- Drugs— The primary mission of the Sheriff’s Office of San Juan County is to provide a safe and secure environment for the residents and visitors through good department programs and community policing efforts. I will make drugs and the problems associated with them a high priority with the Sheriff’s Office. Drugs are a problem that affects us all in one way or another.
- Community involvement and compliance— I will take a more collaborative approach to law enforcement with better communication with the members of the community. My approach will be based on community involvement and compliance rather than a “By the book punitive approach” to law enforcement. Punitive enforcement should be a last resort, not the first.
- Restore the morale of the department— Good communication, leading by example, holding higher standards, and by being in the office consistently, I will restore the morale of the department. With consistent and fair accountability, I will hold all of the members of the department to the same high standards I hold myself to and create a department we can all be proud of. This will allow us to retain quality employees as well as recruit new high quality employees.
- Restore cooperation with first responders— Good communication and relationships with the other first responders of our community, like Fire and EMS, is vital to protecting the community and its members. I will open up lines of communication with Fire, EMS, and the Prosecuting Attorney’s office to allow us to start working together again.
- Training— Domestic Violence, DUI, and Drug Intervention are some of the areas the Sheriff’s Office is sorely lacking in training. The department has not been through Domestic Violence training in the last 8 years, something that should occur a minimum of every 2 years. Domestic Violence calls are the most dangerous calls that we as Deputies respond to on a daily basis. They have a higher probability of injury to both the Deputy as well as the those involved. Continual training is vital for the safety of everyone involved.
My main goal through all of the above is to put community oriented policing at the forefront of the Sheriff’s Office. We are a strong community and together we can all make a difference. Together all of us are stronger than one of us.
I have spent nearly 20 years of my life loving a cop. Those are not popular words to say, after all, who “loves” the police? They give tickets and take people to jail. They carry guns and sometimes yell. Being married to a police officer is not like being married to someone who just has a job; it is our lifestyle. The things he has seen in his career would make most grown men cry, and at times have moved him to tears. We have lived our lives looking over our shoulders every day. Imagine going to a mall to go shopping, only to have your husband tell you to take the kids and go away after he noticed he was being watched and followed by someone he had just taken to jail. He was off duty, but was always a target. Imagine missing holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, family picnics, dinners and events because duty calls. . . because his calling to this lifestyle demanded it, of all of us. Imagine sitting at the funerals of his coworkers and thanking God that, this time, it’s not you walking behind that flag-draped casket. That is the life I chose when I chose to fall in love with a police officer.
Moving out of a big city to the San Juan Islands for his second career in law enforcement offered us a chance, we thought, for him to continue in the life of service he has always known, while allowing a bit of the fear to subside. While that is true to some degree, what I was not prepared for was to have one of his biggest adversaries to be the department for which he works. Having to fight crooks and criminals is hard enough, fighting management for basic rights and fair treatment is even harder. Battling against management who can’t even be honest with the public, let alone within the department, is a battle they should not have to wage.
Both the deputies and the citizens of San Juan County deserve better. They deserve honesty and integrity. They deserve transparency and professionalism. They deserve dedication and confidence. They deserve communication and organization. They deserve commitment to community. They deserve Ron Krebs.
“Vote for Ron Krebs for Sheriff”…
Why? Exactly what’s wrong with the Sheriff we’ve got?
That’s something Mr. Krebs seems to have forgotten to tell us.
And Mrs. Johns’s comment does nothing to clarify the issue either.
What “basic rights and fair treatment” is her husband not seeing on the job? Please be specific.
It’s not only a pretty nebulous complaint, but also it’s a complaint we haven’t heard from any of the other deputies in the department. (Remember: Mrs. Johns’s husband hasn’t been with the department for very long. Does he have a track record, with which to back his complaint?)
How ’bout some concrete information, instead of mere slogans.
Indeed, Steve. Neither Ron Krebs nor Maria Johns explain anything or even alude to anything, except to throw around a few catch phrases like “restore the morale of the department” and “fighting management for basic rights and fair treatment”? I think some of us, hopefully most, will need a lot more specifics before voting for “better”. For example, how is the current Sheriff’s Dept. lacking in “honesty and integrity”? How do we not already have “transparency and professionalism” in our Sheriff’s Dept? If you’re going to sling words around publicly, you need to back up your accusations with some facts.
Steve and Jackie: I urge you to follow the election closely and know that detailed information, lots of it, will be forthcoming. This was simply an introductory article and comment. Please read and follow Ron’s website at http://www.ronkrebs4sheriff.com and you will see more information there as well. I would also encourage each of you reading this to have private off duty discussions with sheriffs department employees to hear their true and honest opinions. Ron is also hosting a booth at the fair this weekend and it is a great opportunity to meet him and ask those questions you have. Know there is much time between now and the November election in which to share the information. So, for now, stay tuned to Orcas Issues for more in the coming weeks.
I have spoken to many Deputies and those affiliated with the Sheriff’s office. From my understanding, the majority of the department is supporting Mr. Krebs for Sheriff. I am sure this is a difficult position to be in while still working for the current Sheriff.
Some of the complaints or issues that I have heard are:
1) Mr. Nou has been to more trainings than anyone in the department but brings nothing back to the agency or its employees.
2) Mr. Nou has been away more than here.. a public records request could verify this.
3) Guardian Patrol Boat- Mr. Nou has said that the Guardian Boat crash had “minor damage and no injuries”.. yet, there was 250K in damages and 12 citizens aboard , several hurt. No independent investigation was conducted (standard procedure). Coast Guard investigated facts later, said the Sheriff office needs policies and training. No one has received any training and no policies are in place.
4) Sex offender annual checks haven’t been done in 3 years.
As Marla states above- I encourage everyone to have private off duty discussions with Ron Krebs, and other Sheriff Department employees to hear their true and honest opinions.
I have met Deputy Krebs now on several occasions and he appears to be a great candidate for the office of San Juan County Sheriff. As an owner of a couple of businesses, parent of two teens and life long resident I have great concern over the changes in our community over my 43 years here. Deputy Krebs addressed my concerns with a community minded attitude and he had great ideas and an obvious passion about his job. I have no hesitation supporting him.
I would like to express my support for Ron Krebs and reiterate in more detail why I would like him to be elected Sheriff. As most of you probably already know, I grew up on Orcas Island and returned with my family almost 17 years ago. I have been serving the citizens of Orcas Island and San Juan County as a law enformcement officer for the last 16 years. There are issues, challenges, and concearns that the public should be aware of in order to make an informed vote in the upcoming election. I urge any of you reading this thread to contact me and I will discuss with you off duty on why I support Ron Krebs and would like you, the fine citizens of our county, to do the same.
I am asking all to please support Ron Krebs for Sheriff.
For those of you who do not know me, I am a recently retired sergeant from the San Juan Co. Sheriffs Office having served for over 35 years. I served the county under 4 different sheriffs including the current one. I supervised both the Orcas and Lopez sheriffs sub-stations. I am still in contact with most of the sheriffs deputies and am up to date with the current issues with in the department.
During the last election for sheriff I asked all who knew me to vote for the current sheriff. I was wrong. I thought I knew him well as he had worked for me as a deputy on Lopez and I felt he would move the department forward in a positive direction. Instead, what I and most of the other officers found was a lack of communication, lack of direction, lack of follow up and a lack of understanding in how the sheriffs office employees work and interact with both each other and those they serve.
During the 1st year of the current sheriffs term I realized the department was changing and not going in a positive direction. The other sergeant as well as the Under Sheriff also felt the same and we believed the department was headed into turbulent times.Our input was not asked for and did not appear to be wanted.
Recently the Sheriffs Guild which represents all the employees except the Sheriff and Under Sheriff voted to endorse Ron Krebs for the next sheriff. This speaks volumes about the current state of the department,and is a very critical statement by the employees.
Ron Krebs is a dedicated officer with current knowledge of Community Oriented Policing, a vital part of law enforcement within our community. He has served with honor in the military and has management experience in the private sector.He knows and understands the special needs of this very unique place we live in.
I have spoken at length with Ron about all the issues and concerns within the department and I believe that Ron is the right candidate to lead the San Juan Co. Sheriffs Office.The deputies and dispatchers need our help. Therefore I am asking each one of you to please vote for Ron Krebs as the next Sheriff for San Juan County.
Steve Vierthaler (retired sgt, SJCSO)