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Show Morale Issues: Off on Efficiency, cjiiare enforcement great degree. of law to a "Tremendous Influence' "Whoever serves as sheriff must keep this in mind: a tremendous influence can be exerted on the lives of individuals in the community, willingly or not," Capt. Morgan said. This, he believes, is one of the most important aspects of the job. (lie police field and in law enforcement in general, which the sheriffs office has been slow in keeping up with. Training Program As sheriff, Capt. Morgan said he would establish a more intense training program provide deputies with all the information necessary to perform their tasks. way anyone can progress in salary is by "going through the ranks. And many officers are not necessarily administrative material, but they may be darn good investigators," he said. They are forced to leave a job they might like in order to attain the higher pay. ' I believe that through proper training, we can provide the men with a better understanding of the multitude of problems in our society and how to react to them," he said. Capt. Morgan, addressing the problem of career development in the sheriff's office, said that now the only If elected, Capt. Morgan said, he would establish specialist ratings, where personnel could qualify in areas in which they have expertise, allowing them to continue in the area they enjoy while receiving a higher wage without becoming an administrator. The critical needs of the department, he said, are a solid training program and the establishment of a sense of direction for the entire sheriff's office. "The setting up of a definite goal for the entire department is of utmost importance," Capt. Morgan said. "I want to provide the best service possible to Salt Lake County residents. And with a renewed sense of direction, I believe that won't be hard to achieve at all." He said there is no bureaucracy within the sheriff's office as such "Sure, there are problems, but I think the agency has done a fine job, which is evidenced by the crime rates which we are now experiencing in the county." lie said that Salt Lake County is below the national average in crimes per 1,000 population when compared with cities of similar density. "I think that says a lot about the sheriff's office when you Uwk at the fact that we're basically understaffed by national standards," he said. Factors Don't Exist "Whether or not we need to meet this national standard is dependent on a lot of factors which I believe don't exist in this community." To deal with this lack of manpower, Capt Morgan said, if elected, he would redistribute deputies and "try to place them in areas where crime is likely to occur at times when our computer readouts tell us it is more likely to occur. I think we can make do with what we have, but as with anything, it can always be improved on. There's no doubt about that." He said, for example, that during the afternoon shift there is usually a backlog of calls, usually because officers are tied up responding to more serious problems. Backlog Situations "Because we can't deal with these backlog situations immediately, sooner or later the public is going to show some concern when they can't get an officer to respond," he said. "If the afternoon shift were built up with existing personnel and this calls for a manpower restructure then we can cover these voids we're now experiencing and our response time would be a lot sooner." j 11 He said the redistribution makes for better efficiency and better public acceptance as to the kind of service the office is providing. O IO Another area in which Morgan thinks the sheriff's office is lacking is training. In the past i0 years, he said, there have been many developments in I O J G O J I V7 loo0l Capt. C a. 3 3 -- I JO . . . Nothing. H 3. cr B 3 5 Without advertising, a terrible thing happens 1 r Tuesday's primary winner, Capt. , Nick Morgan, , say complete training is essential in dealing with crime. |
