Citizen's Academy provides inside look into Sheriff's office

Editor's note: This is the first story in a nine-part series. We will be profiling each of the eight classes and live-fire instruction offered by the Citizen's Academy as students progress through the class.

Lake County Sheriff Bill Barron is up front about the Citizen's Academy — it's a public relations tool.

And it seems to be working. Now in its ninth year, the Sheriff's Citizen's Academy started off with the first of eight classes last Thursday to a packed room with 30 participants, one of the largest groups yet.

"This is a public relations tool. By having you here and putting your through this class, it helps you better understand what we go through," Barron told folks. "The support from the community means a lot to us."

Barron and Undersheriff Mike Sargeant spent the first part of the class introducing participants to the Sheriff's office.

The office has an annual budget of $2 million, which puts it third in the county behind garbage and roads, and works out to be about $67 annually per resident, Barron said.

By having the Sheriff be a coroner as well saves taxpayers about $300-400,000 per year — money that can be funneled back into an office that is expected to provide law enforcement services over 1,656 square miles and for more than 32,000 people.

The office handles about 30 calls per day where a deputy has to respond.

"We have to prioritize what we're doing. The county has been in the top four in growth (in Montana) in the past 10 years, and sometimes number one," Barron said. "Barely a week goes by when I don't sign off on two or three subdivisions."

(As part of the application process, developers must receive the OK from law enforcement officials that they can provide services to a proposed subdivision — something Barron said is becoming more and more difficult, especially in light of last year's failed mill levy.)

The coroner's office

Sargeant spent the next 45 minutes talking about the Office of the Coroner, and if folks were expecting a dry discussion full of Latin medical terms, they were mistaken.

Sargeant had plenty of stories of how difficult it is to determine the cause of death — one of the coroner's primary responsibilities.

"We have a reputation of having some unusual situations (death scenes) in Lake County," he said.

Barron related a time when he was working in Glacier County and had to examine a car accident in which an elderly couple was dead inside. It was estimated the driver was going 90 mph when he lost control of the vehicle, killing both of them.

But an autopsy later revealed the woman had died of a heart attack, and suddenly, the scene made more sense. With his wife suffering from a heart attack, the man had sped to the hospital, which ended up costing him his life. The autopsy revealed she had died before she was put in the vehicle.

Picking through such evidence involves juggling family requests and dignity, insurance companies, other law enforcement agencies and usually a mountain of paperwork, Sargeant said.

Sargeant, who was promoted to Undersheriff in 1999 after Barron was elected, spent much of his law enforcement career in Florida. He said dealing with the state's high rate of "mercy killings" — in which a spouse kills another terminally-ill spouse, often at their request — was a challenge.

"Evidence never lies. It doesn't know who the favorite son or daughter is," he said.

Throughout his discussion, Sargeant told folks he would pass around pictures of graphic death scenes — suicides, homicides, vehicle accidents and other scenes. The purpose was to show folks just what a coroner encounters in everyday life.

Sargeant repeatedly urged folks who might be squeamish to avoid looking at the photos, but they didn't seem to faze most of the attendees. The pictures included gunshots to the head (both suicide and homicide), several suicides, a body in various stages of decomposition, and a half dozen other graphic depictions.

It was the second year the Sheriff's office decided to show such photos, and they did so at the attendees' request, Sargeant said after the class.

"Every year we had people asking, 'Can you give us some examples?'" he said. "We've asked people how they feel after seeing them, and we haven't gotten any negative feedback."

Sargeant said in past classes the Sheriff's office used evidence from the Scarborough murder/robbery plot in 1996 that happened in St. Ignatius. That worked well, he said, because the victim was from out of the area, so it was unlikely to offend anyone — something they're very sensitive too when it comes to graphic photos.

"That's my biggest concern — making sure we aren't offending anyone," Sargeant said of the decision to use graphic photos."

The pictures served a direct point — death is rarely as glamorous as just slipping away in your sleep.

"Sometimes when people die, it's not like we want it to be," Sargeant told the class.

He said sometimes the cause of death is obvious, and other times it isn't, but a coroner has to help the families and other parties have some closure.

"We do that (autopsies) so that we can answer those questions, so it's not a guess, so it's not speculation. We feel that we owe that to the family," Sargeant said.

Reserve deputies

Next on the agenda was Reserve Deputy John McGrew, who is responsible for coordinating much of the class. McGrew told folks a lot about the Reserve program, comprised of about 20 officers.

Many participants of past Citizen's Academies have gone through the Reserve program, which requires 140 hours of training — almost double the state mandate, McGrew said.

Reserve officers handle a little bit of everything, and must learn how to be detention officers, dispatchers, transporters and every other role full-time officers must learn. In fact, the application process is harder for Reserves than it is for regular officers, Barron said.

The first step is to fill out a county employee application, and then a series of supplemental applications on your criminal and traffic history.

"The background check is tougher than it is for a regular deputy. We can ask you questions we can't ask a regular deputy," Barron said.

The next step is to take the Peace Officer Selection Test, or POST, after attending an orientation session (the Citizen's Academy counts toward that requirement).

After that, a committee makes recommendations to the Sheriff about each applicant. McGrew said there's a strong correlation between one's POST score and law enforcement career.

Most Reserves have an interest in law enforcement and want to get their foot in the door, McGrew said.

"There are a lot of officers in Polson, Ronan and St. Ignatius who got their start in the Reserve program," he said.

Getting your foot in the door is just a start, though. From there, Reserve officers spend the next nine months in the classroom — the 140 hours of training — before spending more time in the field getting additional training, McGrew said.

Phase I involves officer safety and survival, including handling firearms, traffic stops and other aspects. Phase II involves criminal investigation, the law and more technical aspects of evidence gathering.

After Phase I, Reserves can be put into the field to work alongside a full-time officer, who acts as a mentor.

"After that, a superior officer can say, 'We feel comfortable with you going by yourself,' (on routine patrol)," McGrew explained.

Reserves must still report to a senior officer, who is also out in the field, but that is the beginning of their time as a fully-trained, stand-along Sheriff's deputy.

"We depend heavily on the Reserves. They're the only reason we've been able to survive," Barron said, referring to the vast size of the county and its limited law enforcement facilities.

Overall, Barron said the Reserve officer program and the Citizen's Academy are invaluable in bringing the Sheriff's office to the public.

"My belief is that this is your Sheriff's office. We're here to serve you," Barron told attendees. "You have the ownership. If you don't like me, in two years you can vote me out."

Next week the Academy will feature Tribal police chief Craig Couture, and a discussion about local drug use and interdiction by a member of the Drug Task Force, and will feature the county's drug-sniffing dog, Riot.