Monday offered Orange County residents a microcosm of what has
been wrong with their Sheriff's Office and why there will be a new
sheriff come Jan. 1.
On Monday, lame-duck Sheriff Frank Bigger, who was soundly
defeated in his reelection bid, appointed a new jail
administrator. The current administrator, Undersheriff John
Thompson, has apparently been ill and Bigger said he felt the jail
needed someone on hand to keep it running smoothly.
But – with Bigger there always seems to be a but – the sheriff
neglected to tell the county executive or county legislators what
he had done. This lack of attention to detail has been standard
for Bigger, who showed disdain for those elected officials
whenever they questioned him about a series of problems involving
his office.
But a 1979 act of the legislature requires that it approve the
appointment of any new jail administrator. And a protocol that has
been in practice since 1980 requires the sheriff to consult with
the county executive on the qualifications of candidates for the
job before making any appointment.
Bigger ignored both. On top of that, as an official who is leaving
office in a little more than a month, he has no business
appointing anyone to one of the key positions in his department in
the first place.
As it turned out, Bigger had a meeting with County Executive Ed
Diana and the appointment was quickly rescinded.
At roughly the same time this was happening, the man who defeated
Bigger in a Republican primary, Carl DuBois, announced that anyone
who had received a so-called "courtesy badge" from Bigger had 60
days to turn it in without any legal consequences. After that,
DuBois said, police agencies would be asked to confiscate any
badges that might be flashed – say at a traffic stop – and take
any official action they deem necessary. A not-so-thinly veiled
warning.
This is in stark contrast to Bigger's half-hearted requests for
people to return the badges. He's not even sure how many badges
were issued or how many have been returned. Nor does he think they
are a big deal.
But DuBois and other officials see them as a liability that
exposes the county to all sorts of legal problems if the badges
are used inappropriately. Beyond that, it suggests there is a
separate class of people who get special treatment from law
enforcement agencies. Even if that's not the case, it appears to
be so and that isn't good.
If Bigger had shown the same courtesy to elected officials and
others with whom he had to work as he did to the select group to
whom he issued these phony badges, he might still be sheriff on
Jan. 1, 2003.
While campaigning for the post, DuBois promised a new era of
integrity in the office when he takes over. The courtesy badges
may not be a big issue in the grand scheme of shaking things up,
but they are a perfect symbol of the old being replaced by the
new.
That's why DuBois, not Bigger, gets to name the new jail
administrator come January.
