Sheriff’s, deputies’ sacrifices and service are ‘unseen,’ but appreciated

The recent extended Thanksgiving weekend was four days everyone enjoyed.

Extended weekends this year for Christmas and New Year’s are three days to which everyone looks forward.

Everyone but those with the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office.

“We had a rough four days,” Sheriff Larry Lane told Sequoyah County Commissioners at their Monday meeting, lamenting a grueling Thanksgiving period.

Lane said an influx of incidents requiring intervention from his office necessitated several deputies being called in, terminating their scheduled days off for what should have been their family holidays.

“During the holidays, we always get a lot of people that pass away, that live on their own, don’t have families. We run into this every year,” Lane told the commissioners. “We had some really bad ones every day this weekend.” Lane reminded the commissioners that sheriff deputies are not like other county employees.

“Holidays, weekends, we’re not like county employees and courthouse employees,” the sheriff explained. “We work all the way through it, don’t get to be home with our families. They sure earned it this weekend.”

District 2 Commissioner Beau Burlison agreed. “It goes unseen, and we appreciate it, too.”

Undersheriff Charles House added that an often-erratic and demanding schedule can take its toll on deputies, both physically and mentally.

Undersheriff Charles House

House then provided the commissioners with an explanation about those with mental health challenges who are or have been jailed, and the restrictive procedures currently in place with which law enforcement must contend and the financial toll associated with incarcerating those with mental health issues.

“That’s not right,” District 3 Commissioner Jim Rogers said of costs counties must bear.

“Here’s what’s gonna have to happen. We’re gonna have to have every commissioner across the state start standing up and voicing their opinion on this, because enough’s enough. As long as we keep taking it and we’re quiet about it …,” he said, forecasting that change will not occur.

“If we’re gonna fund all these mental health agencies and they’re not gonna do their job, then fund us right here and let us hire people that are qualified to do it, build us a facility here,” Rogers roared in frustration. “If we’re gonna be held accountable and required to handle the situation, then let’s spend the money where it needs to be spent. Enough’s enough. It gets dumped in our lap every stinking time.”

Then he posed a realistic, but futile, question.

“Who do we send an invoice to for doing their job?” Rogers suggested. “Maybe we need to start invoicing every time we have to do their job. If we’re gonna have to do it, we need to be compensated for it.” The lengthy discussion brought into focus how current mental health issues and incarceration requirements are overtaxing the county jail.

Mental health evaluations for those incarcerated take up to 18 months, and competency evaluations are increasing, said Jail Administrator Jeremy Day, especially by those who are not impaired but simply attempting to avoid criminal prosecution.

Of course, liability lawsuits are always an ever-present threat, with taxpayers often footing the majority of financial settlements which befall counties.

“Law enforcement guys, their biggest problem, you take these guys, and you finally get them in and get them evaluated — they’re in bad shape, anybody with any sense knows they are — they let them go,” Day posited. “Then they go right down the street, do it again, then you gotta go arrest them again and take them back. It’s like a vicious cycle that won’t end. Nobody will do anything about it.”

But what can be done?

“You gotta do what’s right, and sometimes doing what’s right is hard and it creates a lot of liability,” House acknowledged.

And the efforts of Lane, House and Day are not lost on the commissioners.

“I’m gonna tell you, I appreciate you guys,” Rogers interjected. “The three of us see what goes on statewide, and I’m telling you, our constituents are very fortunate to have you guys and Jeremy sitting in the seats that we have you sitting in. We actually have one of the premier operations in the state of Oklahoma.”

But House pointed out that juveniles with mental health issues create even greater challenges for the sheriff’s office.

“We ain’t talking about juveniles. We don’t have enough time to talk about mentally handicapped juveniles. There is zero places for that person to go,” House told the commissioners. “We’ve had judges tell us, ‘Better tell the parents to lock up all the knives and guns, lock your bedroom door, nothing we can do with this juvenile’.”

To be sure, the challenges are not unique to Sequoyah County.

“It’s only getting worse. It ain’t getting any better,” District 1 Commissioner Ray Watts said. “Seventy- seven counties just in our state. It ain’t happening just here. It’s all over the state.”

And state authorities may not be aware of the seriousness of the challenges.

“They kinda, in Oklahoma City, may think that this is not broke,” House speculated.

“It is broke,” Rogers decided. “The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand’s doing.”