ACSO holds community connection night in Lind

LIND — Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner, Undersheriff Adolfo Coronado and new Jail Commander Kelly Watkins came down to Lind Community Church on Tuesday evening to give an update on the department and allow the community to ask questions. 

Wagner began the discussion by introducing himself and Adams County Sheriff’s Office staff before moving on to how the department has shifted in recent years.

“We had to make some drastic changes, just because we were constantly a revolving door of people leaving through Adams County,” Wagner said. “We’d get them trained and they would up and leave. My goal was to hire good people, try to get them as local as possible and then try to retain them as long as possible.”

Retaining staff is difficult in Adams County, Wagner said, because the county doesn’t pay very well.

“We pay OK for our size, but we're in the middle of Spokane, Grant County, Tri-Cities, that pay a lot more, and they have a lot more officers and deputies throughout those big agencies,” he said. “So my goal was to really establish a family environment to bring people in who wanted to be here.”

Wagner said the department is now at a good point for employee longevity.

“My guys are staying and I am very proud of that,” he said. “For the first time in my career in Adams County, the Sheriff's Office currently, with all the positions that are given to me in my budget, every one of them is filled for the first time in my career.”

Wagner then outlined the status of Adams County’s jail, which has been closed since an inmate and a jail employee were injured during a fight between inmates in 2021.

“At the time I had every position filled in the jail. They were all there, but several were untrained,” he said. “When that (incident) happened, six out of nine walked off the job. So, it left us in a big mess. We had to adjust.”

According to Wagner the jail is still not safe to open, but is fully staffed, including by Watkins, who was hired as the jail’s new administrator in March.

“All these staff members that we currently have that are all hired positions now, we have to get them trained,” he said.

The jail needs to be remodeled before it can be used, Wagner said.

“We found some grant funding that's going to assist us in making some improvements in the jail, hopefully in the near future,” he said. 

The grant funding could provide about $5 million, Wagner said. 

Despite filling the positions allotted for the jail, Wagner said the county still needs to create more positions at the facility before it is safe to house inmates. He said he has asked for nine additional employees and is working with the Adams County Commission on the jail budget, staffing and remodeling. 

Aside from infrastructure and staffing, Wagner said his department is focused on community engagement.

“We've had several events throughout the county. Over in Washtucna, last year, we had the little get-together. We had one here in Lind. We did one in Othello,” he said. “The Othello one was almost mindboggling. We were planning on 500 (and) 2,500 showed up. This year, probably 4,000 (attended). All the stuff has been donated, all these people are giving to us to help these small communities engage with law enforcement and it's costing us really nothing out of our budget, which is really nice.”

Wagner also emphasized how the department fits into the governmental hierarchy of a small town like Lind. 

“The county gives police services (focused on crime),” he told the Lind-area residents. “We don't handle civil issues. Any civil stuff that you're dealing with in your town, your town codes and things like that, those are civil. We don't enforce those by our contract.”

Sheriff’s deputies are dealing with many different stressors while serving the community, Wagner said.

“They're dealing with a lot, which also plays into the mental health issues,” he said. “We're dealing with that more and more these days. People are more violent. People are more quick to anger. People are more stressed out … When you come into these little communities, sometimes you see it even more.”

Fortunately, Wagner said, the department has successfully fought crime in Adams County, particularly felonies. 

“We have solved a lot of issues when it comes to a lot of different types of crimes,” he said. “We've had national news for homicides in this county multiple times in the past five years, and we are solving them with people going away for a long time. Burglaries; we're solving them and we're hitting them hard.”

More information on the Adams County Sheriff’s Office is available at the department’s Facebook page or its website at www.co.adams.wa.us/government/sheriff.

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com.

    Recently hired Adams County Jail Commander Kelly Watkins introduces himself at Lind Community Church Tuesday evening during the department’s Community Connection event.
  

    Adams County Undersheriff Adolfo Coronado introduces himself at the Sheriff’s Office’s Lind Community Connection Event Tuesday evening.