Drizzt
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Copyright 2003 Charleston Newspapers
The Sunday Gazette Mail
January 19, 2003, Sunday
SECTION: News; Pg. P1B
LENGTH: 1853 words
HEADLINE: Sheriff buys truck, badges with gun fees
BYLINE: Christopher Tritto
BODY:
[email protected]
On Nov. 22, Kanawha County Sheriff Dave Tucker bought a 2003 GMC Sierra pickup truck for the department. It cost nearly $ 40,000, but rather than go through the county purchasing department, he paid for it with money in an unchecked account he controls without any county oversight.
Since June 1, Tucker has spent about $ 4,500 on custom-designed, multicolor badges; $ 2,784 on 25 Luminex dive watches identical to those used by U.S. Navy SEALs; $ 1,110 on nine crew-neck sweaters; more than $ 2,000 for brush guards and taillight guards on four Jeep Grand Cherokees used to serve subpoenas; and $ 379 on polo shirts, turtlenecks, hats, bags and jumpsuits embroidered with the department logo.
The new pickup will be used by the bomb squad as an emergency explosives response vehicle and as a tactical operations command and control center, said Kevin Quinlan, the sheriff's chief of special operations. The truck will have communications systems, tools and other equipment the sheriff can use in response to bombs and chemical, biological or nuclear threats, he said. These are just a handful of dozens of expenditures Tucker has made through the sheriff's department's so-called "gun fund" during the past several months. The fund is made up of surplus fees collected by the department from applicants for concealed-weapon permits.
State law does not provide for any county oversight or accounting of the fund beyond the sheriff's office, and broad language puts few, if any, restrictions on the sheriff's expenditures.
"Any surplus in the fund on hand at the end of each fiscal year may be expended for other law-enforcement purposes or operating needs of the sheriff's office, as the sheriff may deem appropriate," according to state code.
"If he went out and bought a Cadillac, he could say he's using it for drug enforcement purposes," said Joyce Ferrebee, field director for the state auditor's chief inspector division. "There's really nothing stopping him from doing that. It may be bad judgment or in bad taste [to buy a Cadillac], but it's not against the law."
Kanawha's gun fund has taken in more than $ 600,000 since the law went into effect in 1996. Tucker has controlled all of it - on top of his regular annual budget - since he took office in 1997. This year, Tucker has $ 5.2 million in his regular law enforcement budget alone.
Tucker arranged to have Quinlan answer questions about the fund on his behalf.
"I think he's getting a little tired of these questions," Quinlan said.
Several items bought with the fund would never be approved by county commissioners because other budgetary needs take priority, Quinlan said. Commissioners have provided a generous operating budget, but the gun fund expenditures ought to be left to Tucker to buy specialty items, he said.
"We are better qualified to make determinations for law enforcement purchases," Quinlan said. "He's the sheriff. He has the expertise. Decisions should be made by the experts, not politicians.
"If [commissioners] want to make the decisions, they should run and become sheriff. The sheriff wants to leave a legacy here, to set up a system that needs to be here. We've tried to make professional decisions, not political decisions. I'm going to stick with the guy who knows this stuff."
Tucker has nothing to hide, and all the gun fund expenditures are justified, Quinlan said.
Until recently, for example, there were several types of badges of inferior quality used within the department, he said. The sheriff wanted something that looked professional and would help the public identify people representing him in the community.
"It's a seven-point star, more distinctive than any other sheriff's department's in the state," Quinlan said. "Different color-coding helps designate the rank of the officer. That's not important to the general public, but believe me, on the scene of a critical incident, it's important to the deputies. They want to see someone with some gold there - that designates sergeant or above - so they can have some supervision on the scene to help them make decisions."
The $ 110 dive watches were necessary because of the importance of timing in special operations, he said.
"We were looking for a timepiece that was tough and very precise, because when you're talking about these operations, a matter of seconds and minutes may mean people's lives," Quinlan said. "If our bomb techs have their entry charge just a couple seconds off, they may be blowing up our entry team rather than blowing up the door so you can go through it. Could we have bought a cheaper watch? Probably. But not one that was as good."
The department also plans to augment a SCUBA search and rescue team, Quinlan said.
Firearms instructors need their $ 120 heavy-duty sweaters and logo-embroidered shirts to distinguish them from students at the target range, he said.
The legal process Cherokees equipped with brush guards go home with servers who live in different parts of the county, he said. Other officers know where those trucks are, and if they need four-wheel drive, they can exchange vehicles at a house for law enforcement.
"This county is 900-and-something square miles, and it ain't all Charleston," Quinlan said. "I've got guys that will serve papers that will go six and a half miles on a dirt road to get to a trailer that's up on top of a mountain. Those brush guards are pretty cheap compared to trying to replace those headlights. This was not for looks, but to keep those lamps from being torn up."
Bids sought; inventory kept
Tucker and his officers now gather three bids or quotes for each piece of equipment or service they buy unless a particular company is the sole source, Quinlan said.
For example, the department spent more than $ 20,000 on firing range equipment from Action Target Inc. last year. The equipment wasn't available from anyone else, Quinlan said.
Beverly Jarrett, Tucker's assistant, keeps an inventory of equipment, he said. A list goes in each personnel file so that items such as the watches can be reclaimed if an officer leaves the department, he said.
But none of the expenditures go through the county purchasing or bookkeeping departments for accounting, inventory or oversight. Tucker specifically ordered gun fund purchases be delivered directly to his office rather than through the purchasing department.
The sheriff still has tens of thousands of dollars available in his gun fund right now.
Nevertheless, he's sent his spokesman, Sgt. J.S. Bailes, to request additional money from county commissioners several times in the past few months to buy shotguns, bulletproof vests and other equipment. The sheriff hasn't dipped into the gun fund for that equipment.
"The sheriff wanted to use the gun fund to provide specialty items commissioners probably wouldn't approve," Quinlan said. "A bulletproof vest? That should be issued law enforcement equipment. We're going to buy somebody's shoes but we're not going to buy them a bulletproof vest? Shotguns should be regular issue. Pistols should be regular issue. That's what should be funded out of the government body."
In 1996, state lawmakers gave the responsibility to administer concealed-weapons permits to each county's sheriff. They hoped the change would help streamline criminal background checks and bring in extra money for sheriff's departments and the State Police, said Ferrebee of the state auditor's office.
Lincoln County Sheriff Kim Cecil, president of the West Virginia Sheriff's Association, said the plan has provided useful funds for day-to-day needs.
"From a financial standpoint, it's been a really big help," Cecil said. "In smaller, less-funded counties, the extra money lets us buy additional guns, ammunition, cameras, radar equipment, radios and other things we can't afford with money from the county commission. I try to use my money for basic equipment that is used directly on the job."
Cecil said it is difficult to compare sheriffs and procedures across counties. Tucker's gun fund is worth about twice Cecil's entire annual budget, he said. Lincoln County has eight deputies compared to Kanawha's staff of about 80, he said.
"My people are basically law enforcement people," Cecil said. "Their uniforms are their uniforms. But [Tucker and I] have two entirely different law enforcement agencies.
"Maybe he thought those things he bought were appropriate. Maybe it's a morale thing. I can't second-guess his decisions because I don't know what he's trying to do. But I won't try to defend him, either."
Tucker has spent more than $ 100,000 from his gun fund in the past six months. Cecil said he's happy if his fund collects $ 6,000 or $ 7,000 in a full year.
"If Sheriff Tucker can't figure out how to spend all that money, I can tell him," Cecil said with a laugh. "Some of his neighbors could put that money to good use."
'The Legislature passed that terrible law'
County commissioners said they are glad more money is available for law enforcement. But they criticized the statute that established the gun fund.
"We have no oversight at all," Commission President Kent Carper said. "The Legislature passed that terrible law and did a disservice to the taxpayers of the state. We have no opportunity to supervise or discuss those expenditures.
"Some of these things I probably would have approved. But when we expend a nickel of tax dollars, we discuss it carefully in an open meeting."
"I am not adverse to expenditures for law enforcement," Commissioner Dave Hardy said. "But any account that doesn't have a check and a balance is subject to private expenditures that the public's not aware of.
"If we had discussed the truck in the commission, for example, we would have had a healthy dialogue, and they may have been able to justify it. But we'll never know. I think the law needs to be amended."
"Mr. Quinlan doesn't understand that these are county funds," Carper said. "They are tax dollars. Every tax dollar they spent should have been for an absolute necessity. That's what spending tax dollars is all about."
State auditors provide sufficient oversight when they conduct their annual reviews of county finances, Quinlan said. If there were problems with the fund, the auditors would find them.
But auditors usually examine the overall financial statements of the county, and not individual accounts, said Allen Bleigh, Kanawha's deputy county manager who used to work for the sheriff's department.
"The concealed-weapons permit fund with a couple hundred thousand dollars in it, compared to the general fund with $ 30 million, is often skimmed over," Bleigh said.
"Unless there is something glaring in the financial statements, they won't get into the details. Do they look at the gun fund? Yes. But do they look at individual purchases and how they use that fund? No. Even if the controls of a particular fund are questionable, they might not be caught."
The Sunday Gazette Mail
January 19, 2003, Sunday
SECTION: News; Pg. P1B
LENGTH: 1853 words
HEADLINE: Sheriff buys truck, badges with gun fees
BYLINE: Christopher Tritto
BODY:
[email protected]
On Nov. 22, Kanawha County Sheriff Dave Tucker bought a 2003 GMC Sierra pickup truck for the department. It cost nearly $ 40,000, but rather than go through the county purchasing department, he paid for it with money in an unchecked account he controls without any county oversight.
Since June 1, Tucker has spent about $ 4,500 on custom-designed, multicolor badges; $ 2,784 on 25 Luminex dive watches identical to those used by U.S. Navy SEALs; $ 1,110 on nine crew-neck sweaters; more than $ 2,000 for brush guards and taillight guards on four Jeep Grand Cherokees used to serve subpoenas; and $ 379 on polo shirts, turtlenecks, hats, bags and jumpsuits embroidered with the department logo.
The new pickup will be used by the bomb squad as an emergency explosives response vehicle and as a tactical operations command and control center, said Kevin Quinlan, the sheriff's chief of special operations. The truck will have communications systems, tools and other equipment the sheriff can use in response to bombs and chemical, biological or nuclear threats, he said. These are just a handful of dozens of expenditures Tucker has made through the sheriff's department's so-called "gun fund" during the past several months. The fund is made up of surplus fees collected by the department from applicants for concealed-weapon permits.
State law does not provide for any county oversight or accounting of the fund beyond the sheriff's office, and broad language puts few, if any, restrictions on the sheriff's expenditures.
"Any surplus in the fund on hand at the end of each fiscal year may be expended for other law-enforcement purposes or operating needs of the sheriff's office, as the sheriff may deem appropriate," according to state code.
"If he went out and bought a Cadillac, he could say he's using it for drug enforcement purposes," said Joyce Ferrebee, field director for the state auditor's chief inspector division. "There's really nothing stopping him from doing that. It may be bad judgment or in bad taste [to buy a Cadillac], but it's not against the law."
Kanawha's gun fund has taken in more than $ 600,000 since the law went into effect in 1996. Tucker has controlled all of it - on top of his regular annual budget - since he took office in 1997. This year, Tucker has $ 5.2 million in his regular law enforcement budget alone.
Tucker arranged to have Quinlan answer questions about the fund on his behalf.
"I think he's getting a little tired of these questions," Quinlan said.
Several items bought with the fund would never be approved by county commissioners because other budgetary needs take priority, Quinlan said. Commissioners have provided a generous operating budget, but the gun fund expenditures ought to be left to Tucker to buy specialty items, he said.
"We are better qualified to make determinations for law enforcement purchases," Quinlan said. "He's the sheriff. He has the expertise. Decisions should be made by the experts, not politicians.
"If [commissioners] want to make the decisions, they should run and become sheriff. The sheriff wants to leave a legacy here, to set up a system that needs to be here. We've tried to make professional decisions, not political decisions. I'm going to stick with the guy who knows this stuff."
Tucker has nothing to hide, and all the gun fund expenditures are justified, Quinlan said.
Until recently, for example, there were several types of badges of inferior quality used within the department, he said. The sheriff wanted something that looked professional and would help the public identify people representing him in the community.
"It's a seven-point star, more distinctive than any other sheriff's department's in the state," Quinlan said. "Different color-coding helps designate the rank of the officer. That's not important to the general public, but believe me, on the scene of a critical incident, it's important to the deputies. They want to see someone with some gold there - that designates sergeant or above - so they can have some supervision on the scene to help them make decisions."
The $ 110 dive watches were necessary because of the importance of timing in special operations, he said.
"We were looking for a timepiece that was tough and very precise, because when you're talking about these operations, a matter of seconds and minutes may mean people's lives," Quinlan said. "If our bomb techs have their entry charge just a couple seconds off, they may be blowing up our entry team rather than blowing up the door so you can go through it. Could we have bought a cheaper watch? Probably. But not one that was as good."
The department also plans to augment a SCUBA search and rescue team, Quinlan said.
Firearms instructors need their $ 120 heavy-duty sweaters and logo-embroidered shirts to distinguish them from students at the target range, he said.
The legal process Cherokees equipped with brush guards go home with servers who live in different parts of the county, he said. Other officers know where those trucks are, and if they need four-wheel drive, they can exchange vehicles at a house for law enforcement.
"This county is 900-and-something square miles, and it ain't all Charleston," Quinlan said. "I've got guys that will serve papers that will go six and a half miles on a dirt road to get to a trailer that's up on top of a mountain. Those brush guards are pretty cheap compared to trying to replace those headlights. This was not for looks, but to keep those lamps from being torn up."
Bids sought; inventory kept
Tucker and his officers now gather three bids or quotes for each piece of equipment or service they buy unless a particular company is the sole source, Quinlan said.
For example, the department spent more than $ 20,000 on firing range equipment from Action Target Inc. last year. The equipment wasn't available from anyone else, Quinlan said.
Beverly Jarrett, Tucker's assistant, keeps an inventory of equipment, he said. A list goes in each personnel file so that items such as the watches can be reclaimed if an officer leaves the department, he said.
But none of the expenditures go through the county purchasing or bookkeeping departments for accounting, inventory or oversight. Tucker specifically ordered gun fund purchases be delivered directly to his office rather than through the purchasing department.
The sheriff still has tens of thousands of dollars available in his gun fund right now.
Nevertheless, he's sent his spokesman, Sgt. J.S. Bailes, to request additional money from county commissioners several times in the past few months to buy shotguns, bulletproof vests and other equipment. The sheriff hasn't dipped into the gun fund for that equipment.
"The sheriff wanted to use the gun fund to provide specialty items commissioners probably wouldn't approve," Quinlan said. "A bulletproof vest? That should be issued law enforcement equipment. We're going to buy somebody's shoes but we're not going to buy them a bulletproof vest? Shotguns should be regular issue. Pistols should be regular issue. That's what should be funded out of the government body."
In 1996, state lawmakers gave the responsibility to administer concealed-weapons permits to each county's sheriff. They hoped the change would help streamline criminal background checks and bring in extra money for sheriff's departments and the State Police, said Ferrebee of the state auditor's office.
Lincoln County Sheriff Kim Cecil, president of the West Virginia Sheriff's Association, said the plan has provided useful funds for day-to-day needs.
"From a financial standpoint, it's been a really big help," Cecil said. "In smaller, less-funded counties, the extra money lets us buy additional guns, ammunition, cameras, radar equipment, radios and other things we can't afford with money from the county commission. I try to use my money for basic equipment that is used directly on the job."
Cecil said it is difficult to compare sheriffs and procedures across counties. Tucker's gun fund is worth about twice Cecil's entire annual budget, he said. Lincoln County has eight deputies compared to Kanawha's staff of about 80, he said.
"My people are basically law enforcement people," Cecil said. "Their uniforms are their uniforms. But [Tucker and I] have two entirely different law enforcement agencies.
"Maybe he thought those things he bought were appropriate. Maybe it's a morale thing. I can't second-guess his decisions because I don't know what he's trying to do. But I won't try to defend him, either."
Tucker has spent more than $ 100,000 from his gun fund in the past six months. Cecil said he's happy if his fund collects $ 6,000 or $ 7,000 in a full year.
"If Sheriff Tucker can't figure out how to spend all that money, I can tell him," Cecil said with a laugh. "Some of his neighbors could put that money to good use."
'The Legislature passed that terrible law'
County commissioners said they are glad more money is available for law enforcement. But they criticized the statute that established the gun fund.
"We have no oversight at all," Commission President Kent Carper said. "The Legislature passed that terrible law and did a disservice to the taxpayers of the state. We have no opportunity to supervise or discuss those expenditures.
"Some of these things I probably would have approved. But when we expend a nickel of tax dollars, we discuss it carefully in an open meeting."
"I am not adverse to expenditures for law enforcement," Commissioner Dave Hardy said. "But any account that doesn't have a check and a balance is subject to private expenditures that the public's not aware of.
"If we had discussed the truck in the commission, for example, we would have had a healthy dialogue, and they may have been able to justify it. But we'll never know. I think the law needs to be amended."
"Mr. Quinlan doesn't understand that these are county funds," Carper said. "They are tax dollars. Every tax dollar they spent should have been for an absolute necessity. That's what spending tax dollars is all about."
State auditors provide sufficient oversight when they conduct their annual reviews of county finances, Quinlan said. If there were problems with the fund, the auditors would find them.
But auditors usually examine the overall financial statements of the county, and not individual accounts, said Allen Bleigh, Kanawha's deputy county manager who used to work for the sheriff's department.
"The concealed-weapons permit fund with a couple hundred thousand dollars in it, compared to the general fund with $ 30 million, is often skimmed over," Bleigh said.
"Unless there is something glaring in the financial statements, they won't get into the details. Do they look at the gun fund? Yes. But do they look at individual purchases and how they use that fund? No. Even if the controls of a particular fund are questionable, they might not be caught."
. At the current $100 max local fee, that's $80mil. Straight into law enforcement. Figure maybe 20% of that will be needed for paperwork overhead, and still...great googly that's some major bucks.
.