OTHELLO — Recruiting and retaining staff and continuing work on the Adams County Jail were among the questions fielded by the candidates for Adams County Sheriff at a candidate forum Tuesday. 

Incumbent Dale Wagner is being challenged by Matthew Carlson, an officer with the Ritzville Police Department. The two men ran for the same office in 2022. 

When asked about priorities, Wagner said the jail is one of his top priorities, but it’s a very complicated problem.

The jail was closed in May 2022 after an incident that left a corrections officer and an inmate seriously injured. But Wagner said the challenges at the jail date back a long way.  

“It's been an issue that I've been working very strongly on the last few years, basically since I've been the sheriff. We did a jail study in 2014 that said tear it down, build new or remodel,” Wagner said. “We had it re-evaluated here recently when an incident occurred in our jail, and they said the same thing. I've been working very hard as the sheriff along with the commissioners and other people involved to get that jail up to speed when it comes to funding for the remodel and those kind of things.” 

Remodeling is only part of the solution, he said. 

“We still have the problem of hiring people. People are not wanting these jobs anymore for whatever reason. It doesn't help that a lot of our (candidate) pool is in Othello and the jail is in Ritzville, and so people don't want to travel. And that's been a hard thing for us to get people hired and be qualified to do that,” he said.  

Carlson said reopening the jail is tied into one of his top priorities, which is public safety. 

“We've got thousands of people in the county that have warrants that are misdemeanors or gross misdemeanors that we can't book in to a jail, so they just get let go. Getting the jail open would actually help the county with the safety aspect,” Carlson said. 

Carlson would make some changes to enhance public safety, he said. 

“I agree with (Wagner) on the safety. We need to have that, but to get that, we also need to have better coverage of the county with the deputies,” Carlson said. "There are several times that the northern part of the county doesn't have anybody. That happens quite a bit. So, trying to get them to be there where we need them, that would be great.” 

Wagner said community growth is tied to public safety. 

“Number one question that people ask when they come to move here is, ‘What's it like? Is it safe?’ That's a question that I take very seriously as the sheriff, and I'll continue to do that,” Wagner said. 

Carlson said keeping the public informed is important to him. 

“Keeping the community informed of issues that are going on. They do a pretty good job of that on (social media). Would like to see a little bit more,” he said. 

The ACSO started a phone app, which has fallen into disuse, Carlson said. He’d like to revive it. 

Carlson said he would have to work out plans for recruitment and retention. 

“I honestly never really thought of that part,” he said. “I can't say that there's really much wrong with the way that the county is trying to recruit. I'll give Sheriff Wagner props on that. He does a good job getting it out there that we need to get people hired. So that would probably just stay the same, trying to get people to understand that this is a great place to come and live and work.” 

He would support changing some department policies that, in his opinion, make it more difficult to recruit. 

“I think part of that would be we'd have to actually change the policy that they have to live in the county. Most agencies, county and city, are starting to allow a 40 or 50-mile radius around the county that could help us get these people to want to work here, so that we can have all the positions filled,” he said.  

Wagner said he thinks ACSO’s hiring and retention polices are assets, not liabilities.  

“I'm retaining the vast majority of the people that I'm hiring. The reason I'm doing that, in my opinion, is because I'm very selective. I disagree strongly with opening the county to outside living,” he said. “The reason for me is because I want to police, and I want my guys to police, the people we love and care about, so that people understand that they can call any of my deputies at any time, and they will understand, and they will be here at a moment's notice, and we have proven this over and over at the sheriff's office.” 

Wagner disputed the characterization that ACSO patrols are inadequate in northern areas of Adams County. 

“I would venture to say that the majority of the time we spend out in the county is in Washtucna, Lind, Ralston, Marengo, Hatton, the Othello area – the county. We are full-county deputies, and we go all over the county. We are everywhere, and we're only 18 people, and that's including myself and the undersheriff,” Wagner said. 

Carlson said most agencies, ACSO included, have policies for investigating complaints against staff members.  

“You have your complaint files. You investigate them to the best of your ability, find out everything that you can. Talk to them. Find out whether or not the complaint is founded or unfounded. If it's unfounded, then there's no need to let the community know,” Carlson said. “But if there's a founded complaint where they actually did a crime or are going to be let go for whatever reason, yeah, we should probably let the citizens know.” 

He added that the ACSO does a good job with some social media but should attempt to expand its reach. Some social media platforms are more popular with young people, he said, and ACSO should take advantage of that. 

“You could also put it out to the media, and there's several, at least three sources that cover the Adams County area that we could put it out to,” he said.  

Wagner said how a complaint against ACSO personnel is handled depends in part on the circumstances. 

“Some are founded; some are unfounded. There is a process for the complaint. We assign a deputy if it's an in-house type of complaint. But if it takes a more serious turn, we turn it over to other agencies for their investigative process,” he said. “That takes us out of the mix. It allows for fair and balanced investigation into the circumstances.” 

In his opinion, the existing ACSO communication strategy works well, Wagner said. 

When asked about strengthening cooperation between other law enforcement and emergency services agencies, Wagner said that although he thought relations were good, there are and will be disagreements. 

“Do we disagree on certain points? Absolutely, and that just comes with the territory of leadership. We all have our different avenues that we're in,” Wagner said. 

There are traditions that lessen the friction, he said 

“You don’t have permission to go out into the county unless I know about it. I wouldn’t go into Ritzville and I wouldn’t go into Othello without telling you that I’m there. That’s a law enforcement common courtesy across the whole nation. Everybody knows it. Everybody should follow it, and frankly, that is how we get along most of the time,” Wagner said. “The realities are that we as professionals can get along, even if we don’t get along all the time. We can make things happen and I think that we’ve been really good at doing that, especially in the last few years.” 

Carlson said cooperation should include training. 

“I would try to train more with the city departments in the county, try to communicate a little bit better. There have been incidents where search warrants were done in cities and we weren't notified. Communication needs to happen,” Carlson said. “Getting us to train together so that we can all respond to things as a team would be great. For instance, we all know school shootings can happen. Ritzville has yet to be invited to assist in Lind, go through that training with them. I think a lot more communication and trying to get us together so that we can work together as one would be the way to do that.”