The Sisyphus Comments

Response to Sheriff’s Office Readies For Separation Woes

The following article was written by Cody Lowe (981-3425) and published in the Roanoke Times on Wednesday, June 14, 2006. Mr. Lowe attempted to contact representatives from Cardinal Criminal Justice Academy prior to writing the story but was unable to do so due to the late hour of the Supervisors’ actions. However, the article contains several inaccuracies so I am providing the following response to the article in an effort to correct the public record.

The Roanoke County Sheriff’s Office wants to sever ties with a training academy but it’s not going to be easy.

The Roanoke County Sheriff’s Office wants out of its relationship with the Cardinal Criminal Justice Training Academy.

The problem is, the Cardinal folks don’t want the sheriff’s office to go and it looks like the Virginia legislature could make it more difficult for a separation to take place.

So, the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors went on record Tuesday unanimously endorsing Sheriff Gerald Holt’s quest to begin severing his office’s ties with the law-enforcement training facility.

Holt and Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge told the board Tuesday that the Salem-based Cardinal facility, created in 1983, is no longer adequate to meet the county’s needs.

That’s a situation that will only get worse, they said, as hiring begins for a new regional jail scheduled to open in 2008 that will need almost 200 new employees.

COMMENT: It should be noted that the Roanoke County Sheriff’s Office and the Western Virginia Regional Jail are separate and distinct entities. Sheriff Holt informed the Cardinal Executive Board that the regional jail did not intend to affiliate with any academy.

Although Sheriff Holt is the chairman of the Western Virginia Regional Jail Authority, all of the members of the Jail Authority will vote to determine where the employees of the Authority will attend training.

The Authority members recently reiterated this fact when they informed Sheriff Holt that he was not authorized to represent the Authority on this issue at a recent meeting of the Committee On Training where this issue was on the agenda for discussion.

“Just today, I had six new deputies lined up to begin in June in basic recruit school,” Holt told the board, “but the class was canceled. Now, they will not have an opportunity to begin until next February.”

COMMENT: Sheriff Holt failed to mention that the reason the entry level jailor/court services class was canceled was that there were only 8 students enrolled in the course. The Department of Criminal Justice Services Jails Training Section teaches 5 weeks of the 10 week course and they will not conduct a course for less than 15 students. Obviously, if the academy was forced to cancel a course due to low student enrollment, this should alleviate the Sheriff’s concerns about Cardinal’s ability to handle the training needs of the regional jail.

“It would be a tremendous benefit to the sheriff’s office and the county’s citizens to move in a new direction,” Holt said, with more control over law-enforcement training.

COMMENT: Sheriff Holt has no basis for making this comment. Sheriff Holt was the Chairman of Cardinal Criminal Justice Academy in 1992 and 1993 and has sat on the Executive Board for longer than any other Board member. As such, he has had more opportunities to impact academy operations than any other member agency administrator.

The citizens of Roanoke County will be the ones left to pick up the multi-million dollar bill for the construction of a new criminal justice training academy that will deliver redundant services.

In fact at the June 8th meeting of the Committee on Training, Mr. Hodge attempted to justify the need for a new academy in the Roanoke Valley. However, a closer examination reveals that Roanoke County has a standing invitation to be a partner in Roanoke City’s new academy that will be built on 6 acres near the Roanoke Airport. The new academy will actually be closer to the Roanoke County Police Department Headquarters than the Roanoke City Police Department Headquarters. In addition, Cardinal Criminal Justice Academy is just minutes away and the New River Criminal Justice Training Academy is within a reasonable commuting distance. He did indicate that they hoped to convince agencies from the Roanoke and New River Valleys to join their effort. This is a polite way of saying that they were trying to solicit member agencies from Cardinal Criminal Justice Academy and New River Criminal Justice Training Academy to join their proposed academy.

Beginning in 2001, state law limited withdrawal applications from the state’s 10 regional training academies, including Cardinal. Members now may only request withdrawal every fifth year in October.

COMMENT: 15.2 – 1747 COV does not limit this requirement to regional academies.

The application must be filed by July 1, and a two-thirds vote of the academy’s board of directors is required to approve the withdrawal.

COMMENT: There is not July 1 requirement in 15.2 -1747. The law simply limits when the board of directors may consider a request to withdraw in October of every 5th year unless all of the directors agree otherwise.

It’s all pretty confusing and all untested because this is the first year members can request withdrawal, explained County Attorney Paul Mahoney.

It isn’t clear, for instance, whether the “governmental unit” that would withdraw from the academy is the board of supervisors or the sheriff’s office, he said.

COMMENT: 15.2 – 1747 is very clearly written. The academy agreements are based on either 15.2 1300 or 15.2 – 1747 and they require the agreements to be with the political subdivision not an agency.

The statute also fails to impose any sanctions or penalty on a “governmental unit” that decides to drop an academy membership if the academy refuses to approve it.

COMMENT: The issue of sanctions for non-compliance is currently under study by the Department of Criminal Justice Services. However, the General Assembly passed the amendments to 15.2 -1747 in 2000 which clearly specify the requirements under the law.

But the state’s regional academies are seeking emergency legislation from the General Assembly to make it even tougher for a member to withdraw, Holt said, and the county needs to act now while it has the chance.

COMMENT: The regional academies, which are made up of approximately 70 – 75% of the police departments and sheriff’s offices throughout the state, have asked the Department of Criminal Justice Services to consider passing an emergency update to their existing regulations to insure compliance with 15.2 – 1747.

The county’s police department left the Cardinal academy in 2001 just before the current law took effect. Its officers now train with the Roanoke Police Academy.

That facility is housed in the Jefferson Center in downtown Roanoke but has outgrown its space and is looking to relocate.

With Cardinal also landlocked, Hodge said, “We saw an opportunity to work together with other localities at an even greater level.”

Earlier this year, “We asked Roanoke city if they would be willing to discuss” a new regional training facility, Hodge said. “They said yes.

COMMENT: This is untrue. Roanoke City declined Mr. Hodge’s offer to build an academy in Roanoke County. Roanoke City did tell Mr. Hodge that Roanoke County was welcome to participate in the new academy that Roanoke City would be building in the city.

Then we talked to Cardinal Academy. At first they said yes, then they chose not to.”

COMMENT: Mr. Hodge attended a meeting of the Cardinal Criminal Justice Academy Executive Board and asked the Board to consider entering into an agreement with Roanoke County to open a new academy. Mr. Hodge was told that the Board would consider his offer and get back with him. At the May 30, 2006 Executive Board meeting, the Board informed Sheriff Holt that Cardinal Criminal Justice Academy has served the needs of our member agencies for 23 years and it would not be in the best interest of the academy to enter into an agreement with Roanoke County.