Palouse councilmen push for one-man police crew department

Two Palouse council members are pushing for layoffs in the city police department.

At a Nov. 9 council meeting, council members Randy Zehm and Norm Schorzman both voted “no” on renewing a three-year-contract in which Palouse provides law enforcement for Garfield.

Zehm later told the Gazette he believes the city budget is struggling to the point layoffs are needed. He also denied public allegations he was attempting to get Palouse Police Chief Jerry Neumann fired.

The majority of the council voted “yes” and the contract was approved for three full time officers to patrol both Garfield and Palouse. The contract provides roughly 35 hours a week of coverage to Garfield which has a population of 630. Palouse has a population of roughly 1,000.

The dissent of the two council members came two weeks into the now month-long issue of the Dylan Mayhan-Treese suicide.

Palouse citizens have, at the past three city council meetings, asked for more law enforcement and more police scrutiny of an alleged drug house in the city of Palouse. The death of Mayhan-Treese, 16, heightened community outrage over alleged drug activity at the house. However, it was later stated by the county prosecutor there was no relation between the teenager’s death and drugs at the house at 320 W. Mohr Street.

When asked if it was wise to advocate for downsizing the department directly after these public events, Zehm pointed out both the suicide and drug home occurred with a three-man department.

“We’ve had three cops, and we’ve still had the same things happen. That’s exactly why with one guy, we could rely heavily on the community to report to the police department,” he said.

Zehm said he believes dropping to a one-man department is a good choice because the budget has become an issue for the city.

The city should be looking into making budget cuts rather than diverting funds or voting in new taxes like last year’s new utility tax, he said. Letting go two police officers is a way to save funds.

Zehm worked on the Palouse police department in the late 1990s and early 2000s, serving five of those years as chief. He is now a deputy sheriff for Whitman County.

Zehm claims he ran the department as a one-man department when he was chief, with occasional support staff.

City hall records from 1997 to 2002 reflect several part-time officers, in addition to Zehm, on the city payroll, never more than two at a time.

A record of the city salary schedule for 2001 showed $1,800 a month set aside for an officer to assist Zehm that year.

City council minutes from Nov. 9, 1999, list mayor Michael Echanove asking Zehm how he is managing 24 hour coverage of the whole town with two officers.

Running the department by himself was difficult, Zehm said, but it was manageable.

“Since I used to do it, there are times when you get burned out,” Zehm said. He pointed out he staggered his shifts to make sure he got the rest he needed.

“It’d be nice if we had 100 cops, but the budget just doesn’t support it,” he said.

One citizen at the Nov. 23 council meeting, Karen Fealy, accused Zehm of advocating for these changes as he has a known bias against Chief Neumann. She believes Neumann would be terminated if the force was reduced.

Zehm told the Gazette this was not his intent.

Chief Neumann said he was glad the contract passed. A three-man police force to cover the roughly 1,600 people in both towns is essential, Neumann said.

In response to the “no” vote from the two members, Neumann said the idea of running law enforcement for Palouse with one officer was nonsense.

“It’s not fair for another brethren law enforcement to suggest that, knowing what the perils of that would be, that’s ridiculous. Randy Zhem should know better than to take that position,” Neumann said.

He pointed out that Palouse and Garfield need small-town policing. If the sheriff’s department was the only law enforcement there, calls for issues like dogs barking or junk cars would go unanswered.

He also pointed out one officer would be stretched thin trying to patrol and be on call seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

“Even when Palouse was a two man department, it was a struggle,” Neumann said.

Garfield mayor Jarrod Pfaff said the coverage from Palouse has helped their town. Before they had the contract with Palouse, their police officer Joe Merry was stretched thin covering the town of Garfield around the clock. Even when Merry was off the clock, he could still be on call, Pfaff said.

“Those guys now honestly have true shifts. When they are off duty, they are off duty,” Pfaff said. He added he favors continuing to have coverage from the Palouse police department.

The Garfield city council approved the three-year contract extension Nov. 3. Pfaff said the town sees mostly minor crimes typical of small towns.

“It’s like every other small town. It’s mostly dogs barking and neighbors complaining,” Pfaff said.