Tensions surface over funding for strained Sheriff’s Department

The simmering debate over requested funding for the Dubois County Sheriff’s Department recently came into the local spotlight with the release of Sheriff Donny Lampert’s public letter on the issue. The written statement outlined both Lampert’s proposals for additional funding and the resistance he has met with from the county council.

Specifically, Lampert claims the department is understaffed, lacking the manpower resources to cover its various duties. In addition to other responsibilities, the Sheriff’s Department is tasked with serving bench warrants, staffing the jail, and providing prisoner transport for court appearances, the Indianapolis Department of Corrections, and juvenile facilities outside the county. The result is a situation that has left individual employees scrambling to fill several roles. In one case, Lampert identified a single deputy who is responsible for sex offender registration for the entire county and he is the computer tech for the department in addition to his regular duties.

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Due to his personnel being swamped with overlapping duties, Lampert has requested that the county council approve the funds to hire one more deputy and two jailers. Lampert feels these additional positions would help distribute the workload within his department.

To further justify his requests, Lampert cites studies from other counties with similar populations and sizes that have three to four more deputies and up to five more jailers than Dubois. However, council members have expressed that the counties in these reports had considerably larger inmate populations. When questioned about this, Lampert states that this interpretation is misleading, pointing out that the number of inmates his department is actually responsible for is increased dramatically when convicts on work release and home incarceration are factored into the total with the jail occupants.

Currently, the council has approved only the single deputy position for the budget causing concerns for Lampert who feels his strained manpower is up against a steady flow of crime in the county. Lampert recounts a recent incident in which two deputies had transported several prisoners for a court appearance when an accident occurred. One deputy responded to  the scene leaving all the inmates in the care of the other deputy. Meanwhile a burglary occurred elsewhere, which Lampert personally responded to as no one else was available.

He claims that such instances are becoming increasingly common as his staff simply has more work than they can efficiently handle. Asked about the county’s crime rate, Lampert replied, “Is crime on the rise in the county? No, I don’t necessarily think so. It rises and falls, but the overall picture is constant, leaving us in a position where we can never catch up on lots of our back-logged work because we’re always going to have calls that need responding to in addition to the extra daily duties we’re taking on.”

These problems are hardly new. Former sheriff Terry Tanner recounts some similar circumstances during the latter parts of his term. Tanner describes his employees as “making due the best they could” with what he describes as a department that was even then considered understaffed by federal standards. Tanner states the county council of his term was sometimes willing to accommodate his budget requests and sometimes not. According to Tanner, the department has also keenly felt serious reductions in federal grant funding due to recession scale-backs.

The current sheriff’s budgetary concerns are not limited simply to matters of staffing. Once again at odds, the council seeks to approve funds to buy the sheriff’s department new equipment to allow them to take on new capabilities. Lampert instead feels that such funds should first be allocated to address current basic department needs, such as fixing a hole in the judicial complex parking lot.

Lampert also wishes to place a greater emphasis on prisoner rehabilitation and would like funds designated for rehabilitation videos and mental health visits. He insists the latter would actually wind up saving the county money by reducing injuries that some unstable prisoners inflict on themselves while in the department’s custody. Furthermore, the department has seen a surge of interest among inmates regarding options like Narcotics Anonymous and G.E.D. programs, fueling Lampert’s hopes for more rehabilitative options to cut down on repeat offenders.

The debate continues as to whether it is appropriate to ask for increased funding during a period of general economic hardship. Police departments often face critics who accuse them of overstating staff and budget shortages in the hopes of gaining funding. Public departments, private companies, and individual citizens are stretching their finances the best they can, so why should the police department be any different? Lampert’s answers, “If someone wants to refuse my funding requests because the money for it simply does not exist in county budget, then that is fine; I understand. However, if they refuse because they believe the need does not exist, then that I won’t accept and I invite them to come to the jail themselves to see what our workload is like.”

Lampert claims he is further frustrated by the fact that the council proposed a pay increase for all county employees before his department’s budget was even submitted. “I just find it inappropriate that while people in the private sector are suffering economically that we should be suggesting a sweeping pay raise. Meanwhile, vital sheriff’s department services are suffering, services the people of this county depend on for their safety.”

Lampert’s outspoken reaction to the county council has also drawn criticism from some voices in the county’s Democrat Party, concerned that Lampert is misstepping by butting heads with fellow members of his party that are on the council. To Lampert, however, his sworn duties as sheriff go beyond simply walking the party line.

Lampert says, “In taking the oath to become sheriff, I became responsible for making the best decisions for the safety of everyone in this county, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, party affiliation, or anything like that. As long as I’m doing this job, partisan concerns aren’t going to be a part of how I run this department.”

While Lampert admits that community feedback from his public letter has been largely supportive, he also states he still has critics within his own party who suggest his open debate with the council is ill advised and that he “will not get anything he wants if he doesn’t play the political game the right way.”

The county council will further address the sheriff’s department budget and Lampert’s requests at a future date. Councilman Gregory Kendall states the council declines to make a public comment at this time.

With an uncertain economic outlook, it is clear that many tough budgetary decisions are going to have to be made and that it will not be possible to please everyone. Sheriff Lampert remains concerned about the potential consequences if his department continues to be overworked and under-staffed.

“We’re committed to doing our jobs regardless, and I’ve got employees who have been burning hours to cover duties. The department has been under a lot of stress for a long time now, and it is my real fear that eventually someone is going to make a mistake or have an accident. This could all wind up costing the county a lot more in the long run.”