Two veteran law enforcement officers will be facing off in Augustβs Republican primary election for Pima County sheriff, bringing with them a combined 50 years of experience.
Mark Napier, 54, challenged then-Sheriff Clarence Dupnik in the 2012 election, coming up short with 46 percent of the vote to Dupnikβs 51.
Terry Staten, 51, is a sergeant with the sheriffβs department, but was placed on administrative leave in late May after county administrator Chuck Huckelberry said he violated a county policy related to campaigning.
The winner will face Sheriff Chris Nanos, a Democrat, in the November general election.
The Star spoke to both candidates about their positions. The primary election is Aug. 30.
Deputy pay issues
For the past year, the deputies union has been asking the Pima County Board of Supervisors to follow through on increases in salary, or βstep increases,β that hundreds of employees were promised years ago.
Deputies, sergeants and corrections officers who were hired during the last nine years are being paid at the same rate as new hires.
Nanos has taken a different route, asking the board for βdecompressionβ β a plan that would adjust deputiesβ pay to bring them up to the proper level of the departmentβs pay scale.
Negotiations with the board ceased in late March, when County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said he wouldnβt support salary increases for sheriffβs employees, as it excludes all other county employees.
Napier said having deputies who have been with the department for nearly a decade being paid the same as newly hired deputies doesnβt make sense. This leads to veteran deputies leaving the department for better paying jobs elsewhere.
βI would examine the current budget before going to the taxpayers or board of supervisors, to be sure weβve done everything internally we can,β Napier said. βThe organization might be a little on the top-heavy side, and there may be ways to save money there.β
Deputy and sergeant pay has been an issue for years, but Staten said itβs only discussed during elections.
βIf Iβm elected, it will be an ongoing effort, because itβs always about supporting the deputies in the field, corrections officers and the civilian staff,β Staten said. βIf the upper-echelon, and I mean captains and above, were to just go away, the department would still run. If we donβt have any sergeants and deputies in the field, we canβt function. We have to be able to support them to even exist.β
Staffing levels
Both candidates have discussed the issue of βcronyismβ during interviews with the media, saying some of the departmentβs high-ranking officials β including Nanos β exercise favoritism.
Last year, Chief Deputy Christopher Radtke retired, but was rehired and returned to work days later. Brad Gagnepain, former senior executive advisor, also retired from the department, but was brought back on last year by Nanos in a newly created chief of staff position.
βWe need to end the policy of using unclassified positions to retain cronies,β Napier said. βFor positions above sergeant, Iβd implement a 360-degree review process, that would include input from peers, subordinates and command staff,β he said. βThis would ensure that weβre promoting the appropriate people. Itβs easy to do, and it adds a layer of transparency to the process.β
Staten said that heβd re-evaluate the entire structure of the department to find out which positions are needed.
βI question the chief-of-staff position. I donβt know where that came from. I thought the sheriff and chief deputy were supposed to be dealing with the staff issues,β he said. βThat would be something Iβd look at, since I donβt understand the reasoning behind it now. One of the things I did with the units Iβve had is, every six months, weβd sit down and evaluate what weβre doing and why weβre doing it. And if there was no real reason for doing something, weβd change it.β
Improving mental health response
In January, deputies shot a man who had been released from a local mental health provider after stabbing himself in the neck while fleeing from U.S. marshals the week before.
While he was at the facility, the departmentβs mental health support team served an order for him to appear in court for a mental health evaluation, but he failed to appear to the court date after he was released and days before he was shot and wounded by deputies. Itβs unclear why he was released from the facility.
Napier suggested creating partnerships with the University of Arizonaβs psychology department, seeking grant funding for mental health programs within the sheriffβs department, and creating internships for UA students studying criminal justice or mental health. A current UA employee, Napier said he has the connections to make these ideas a reality.
βMy undergraduate degree is in psychology, so I understand mental health issues on an operational and academic level. Iβd like to provide internal education for the deputies and more critical incident training on how to handle people with mental illness,β Napier said.
Staten said that while he was heading up the mental health support team, Pima Community College and Marana police were dedicating an officer to the team one day a week to help train other agencies on mental health issues.
βBefore I left, we were also looking at co-locating with the city and one of the mental health providers in this town, and being housed in their office. Weβd be able to walk across the hall to a recovery coach or a case manager, and we could use the resources if we needed it,β Staten said.
Crime-fighting ideas
Napier mentioned border issues as one of his priorities, saying that sheriffs in Maricopa and Pinal counties have been working with Gov. Doug Ducey on ways to improve law enforcement on or near the border. Last fall, Nanos called Duceyβs plan to create a border strike force βinsulting,β which Napier said was just wrong.
βWhat I would also like to do is take the best elements from the best models β information-driven policing, problem-oriented policing and community policing β to develop a blended best-practices approach,β Napier said. βWeβre looking toward long-term resolution to community problems by seeking the root causes.β
Staten wants to see an increase in support for deputies by members of the command staff, including going out into the field and making themselves more accessible to all members of the department.
βTheyβve put themselves in positions where they donβt feel like the troops need to know who they are,β he said about top command staff.
Technology in the field
Agreeing with the position Nanos has taken, Napier said heβs not in a rush to bring body-worn cameras into the department.
βThere are reasons to wait on body cameras and see how they pan out with other agencies, one of them being cost for storage,β he said.
Staten also agreed that the expense of body cameras is currently too great, but if the opportunity comes up to get body cameras at a low cost, Staten said heβd consider it.