October 17, 2002

Sheriff candidates outline overhauls

By Brendan Scott
Times Herald-Record
bscott@th-record.com

Middletown - Republican Carl DuBois has got big plans for the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

He's talking about starting at the top: new commanders, a new system of checks and balances and a new department to administer "professional standards and compliance" in the scandal-racked sheriff's office. Democrat John Whiffen is talking about accountability and management overhauls, too. But he thinks DuBois is jumping the gun on specifics.

"I'm not on the inside yet," Whiffen said. "How do you know what you want to change in the sheriff's office until you get in there?"

In a debate before the Times Herald-Record's editorial board yesterday, the two lawmen vying for sheriff promised radical change from the embattled administration of current Sheriff H. Frank Bigger, whom DuBois defeated in a Republican primary last month.

But they've got different ideas on how it should be done.

For starters, DuBois wants to appoint four new deputy undersheriffs to oversee administration, investigations, corrections and the road division. That's in addition to the conventional No. 2 position of undersheriff. The retired Middletown police lieutenant says he wants top-notch people to fill the slots.

Under his plan, the deputy undersheriff of corrections would replace the old position of jail administrator. The investigations undersheriff would combine the investigative efforts of both the civil and corrections divisions. The administrative head would make sure the office is following the state and federal protocols and is responsive to the advice of outside watchdog groups.

"We have a 21st century facility, and we have a mid-20th century command structure. We want to change that," said DuBois, who has been consulting lawmakers, police chiefs and sheriff's office employees about his plans.

"We've done our homework," said DuBois. "We have to have open lines of communication. That's going to restore integrity to the sheriff's office."

Whiffen says he's talked to deputies and police chiefs as well. But the Town of Highlands police chief, who has 24 years of administrative experience, questioned the wisdom of putting police and corrections under the same chain of command.

"The experts in corrections are in the back; the law enforcement experts are in the front," Whiffen said, pointing out that the two divisions have different state regulators and separate unions. "There should be no unification of the two. They should stay on their ends of the building."

Whiffen says he wants to keep an open mind about command structure until he's in office. That includes being open to the idea of getting rid of the elected position of sheriff and replacing it with an appointed public safety administrator. He would also support moving control of the jail to a separate jail administration under the county executive.

"The county spent $150,000 on a study to look into the sheriff's office and that was the recommendation they had," Whiffen said, referring to the controversial Holland and Knight report released last year. "I'm willing to look into that and see if it's fiscally sound. Just because we've had a sheriff for all these years doesn't mean we have to have one in the future."