— from San Juan County Deputy Sheriff’s Guild —
On September 15, 2014, the San Juan County Deputy Sheriff’s Guild, which represents all the sworn Deputies, Detectives, Sergeants and the professional Dispatch and Corrections staff, hosted a question and answer session for both Sheriffs candidates, Rob Nou and Ron Krebs. Rob Nou is the current San Juan County Sheriff. Ron Krebs is an eight-year veteran with the San Juan County Sheriffs Office.
The questions from Guild members centered around: outdated policy and procedures, poor morale, multiple problems with the patrol boats, dispatch safety and security concerns, communication issues, budget, weak relations within other County entities—fire and EMS providers and other resource and service providers—inactive reserve program and physical fitness for duty to name a few.
The Sheriff’s Guild is made up of 26 total members. Of those, a small fraction elected to abstain. The remaining members voted to support Ron Krebs. We, the Guild, believe Ron Krebs will bring back community policing, citizen responsiveness, honesty and integrity, communication, and morale into the San Juan County Sheriffs Office.
San Juan County Deputy Sheriff’s Guild Board of Directors:
Steve Johns – President
Jeff Asher – Vice President
Herb Crowe – Secretary
Robin DeLazerda – Treasurer
After multiple incidents that were handled so poorly by SJCSO I am certainly going to consider changing leadership.
A parent allowed teens to drink at his home and when he admitted this happened Mr.Nou did nothing after initially promising to pursue such cases when he was elected.
The Orcas Fire Department “accident” was so poorly investigated that many thought the SJCSO was complicit in the cover up!
The Christmas Eve debacle in Friday Harbor was an embarrassment to the community which revealed an inept level of training which falls directly in the lap of leadership.
Time after time the guidance of SJCSO has fallen woefully short.
I don’t personally know Sheriff Nou, but I’ve met some of his deputies in the three years since I’ve lived in San Juan County and found them to be a credit to the law enforcement community. I don’t know about what happened with the fire department and the underage drinking allegation, they seem to be one time events without any allegations of repeated events. In reference to the alleged Christmas Eve debacle, I take it you’ve never seen a body pinned underneath a truck after being thrown out of the back of a pickup truck or ejected from a vehicle. It never ceases to amaze me that people can be so judgmental about things they know nothing about. It’s also quite simply a violation of the law.