Attorney says deputies too involved in Pullman

Pullman Attorney Timothy Esser wrote county commissioners that Sheriff Brett Myers could withstand a cut that would reduce the number of deputies on the county payroll.

In countering Esser’s assertion during Monday’s public hearing on the budget, Sheriff Myers entered into the record past correspondence between him and Esser in which Esser questioned the role that Myers’ Mormon faith has played in deputies beginning to patrol the WSU campus.

Because of that, Myers urged commissioners to “give zero weight to Mr. Esser.”

“I have never allowed my faith to determine how I do my job,” the sheriff said Monday.

Esser wrote county commissioners Dec. 11 that deputies have overstepped their bounds in patrolling Pullman and the campus of Washington State University.

“I have never understood why, particularly in times of budget constraints, we need to have such zero tolerance, extreme policing of our overall law abiding citizenry,” Esser wrote.

Esser said deputies routinely cite minors for possessing alcohol and pull over drivers within Pullman.

In a letter to Myers dated Jan. 15, 2008, Esser said religion often influences people and a discussion of how religion influences a public official’s policy decisions is a valid argument.

“Discussing religion and its impact on politics is as American as apple pie,” Esser wrote.

Myers stressed he does not let his religion influence his policy decisions. Esser noted both Myers and former WSU President Lane Rawlins are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Prior to Rawlins’ appointment, Esser pointed out in his 2008 letter, deputies did not patrol within Pullman and arrest minors who had been drinking, nor had the school imposed discipline on student drinking.

Myers and Esser have been discussing the department’s staffing level for the better part of two years.

In a Jan. 3, 2008, letter, Esser requested Myers provide him with staffing numbers for the past 30 years and all documents pertaining to deputy patrols within Pullman city limits.

Myers wrote a reply to Esser’s request Jan. 9, 2008. In that letter, Myers criticized Esser for telling him in a telephone call that “Mormons are running this county.”

Esser corrected the sheriff in the letter dated Jan. 15, 2008.

“I did not say that I thought Mormons were ‘running this county,’” Esser wrote. “I said, from the way the minor drinking laws were being enforced in Pullman, ‘one would think that the Mormon Church was running this town, this is WSU, not BYU.’”

Since 1980, Esser said, the county’s population has shifted significantly. In that year, nearly half of the county’s 40,000 people lived outside of Pullman city limits. Today, approximately 15,000 of the county’s 42,000 people live outside Pullman.

Esser emphasized that, while the population shifted to inside city limits, the number of deputies – who are primarily responsible for patrolling the unincorporated county – rose sharply.

Myers presented figures that showed the number of deputies has indeed risen over the past 30 years, from 12 in 1980 to 18 in 2009.

Records presented by Myers showed most citations issued by deputies within Pullman this year were written on Cougar football weekends when the sheriff’s office is contracted by the state and city to patrol Pullman and campus.

The sheriff countered Esser’s argument by noting the number of calls for service has nearly tripled in that time frame. In 1985, deputies responded to 1,283 calls. Myers estimated this year’s total will reach as high as 3,500.

Myers added the work that deputies must perform has also become more complicated.

State laws mandate deputies perform emphasis patrols for seatbelt violations and drunken driving, he said. Deputies must also check on registered sex offenders.

He added the influx of methamphetamines, mandatory domestic violence arrests and citizens reporting crimes via cell phones have also upped the caseload of deputies.