PORT HADLOCK — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office will interview two internal candidates for a south county deputy position hoped to be staffed April 1.
Interviews will take place Tuesday afternoon.
“The south county deputy will be a liaison to all communities and businesses in the Quilcene and Brinnon areas,” Sheriff Andy Pernsteiner said. “When they’re in service, they’ll be a closer response time because they’re going to be stationed out of the Brinnon fire station, for right now. Just basically going to more of a presence in the south county area, to deal with community problems, whether it be petty thefts, burglaries, traffic complaints, neighbor disputes, those types of issues.”
Quilcene Fire Chief Tim McKern also offered office space in the Quilcene fire station, Pernsteiner said. McKern and Brinnon Fire Chief Tim Manly both recognized the need, Pernsteiner said.
Pernsteiner said the areas on their patrol map, which JCSO classifies as south county, also include Coyle.
The position will cover the S3, S4 and S5 areas on the map, which correspond to Quilcene, Coyle and Brinnon. See a full map of patrol areas on the county website at https://www.co.jefferson.wa.us/210/Patrol-Division.
Pernsteiner said two south county residents who have been vocal about the need for a deputy in their areas will join him on the interview panel, one from Quilcene and one from Brinnon.
The two internal candidates are Deputy Gene Hoagland and Detective Alan Jorgensen, Pernsteiner said.
Hoagland is one of two deputies currently working on the west side of Jefferson County as a part of a contract with the Hoh Tribe. He has been with JSCO since 2017. Prior to that, he was a Clallam County Deputy, Pernsteiner said.
He also has worked for the Forks Police Department, Pernsteiner added.
Jorgensen has been with JCSO since 2019, Pernsteiner said. Before that, he worked with the Port Townsend Police Department for a few years, and prior to that, he worked as a corrections officer in JSCO’s jail, Pernsteiner said.
In 2023, 23 percent of calls to the sheriff’s office came from south county, which is high for the population, Pernsteiner said.
Response times have routinely been 15 to 30 minutes, Pernsteiner said.
“It takes 25 minutes to get to the end of the county, even going fast,” Pernsteiner said. “It’s even worse in the summertime when there’s traffic on the 101. You can’t safely get around vehicles when there’s so much traffic on the roadways, so we have a delayed response to that area of the county.”
In cases when deputies are tied up on priority calls, it has taken an hour or a couple of hours to get to certain calls in the past, Pernsteiner said.
Some people don’t report crimes while they’re happening because they don’t recognize the presence of law enforcement or believe they won’t do anything, Pernsteiner said.
Pernsteiner said he and former Sheriff Joe Nole attended a meeting with more than 20 homeowners association (HOA) presidents at Camp Parsons in Brinnon last fall.
“I was told that people don’t call Jeffcom (911 communications) to report things,” Pernsteiner said. “They would report issues in their housing development to their HOA president. They requested permission to be able to funnel all of those calls through their HOA president. Their HOA president would reach out to a certain person from the sheriff’s office on Facebook.”
Using this method of communication would lead to very slow response times, Pernsteiner said.
“We don’t respond to requests over social media for crime activity,” Pernsteiner said. “You need to call Jeffcom. That’s the whole purpose of having a dispatch center.”
Having a south county deputy who is known and focused on the area is expected to increase the likelihood that people will report crimes, Pernsteiner said.
“I know that if we had a person who was dedicated to the area and they knew who that person was, they would be more apt to report,” he said. “Historically speaking, we’ve had deputies who were stationed down there in the past. They knew who the deputy was, they developed a rapport, and they’re more apt to report suspicious activity or report a theft to a person that they know.”
Having an officer who understands historical issues in neighborhoods and between people will increase the likelihood that residents will engage law enforcement, Pernsteiner said.
The HOA meeting was held because, at that time, there had been a number of burglaries in the area, Pernsteiner said.
“We were able to say that all of the burglaries were related to one person, and that person actually got caught and is going to trial next week in Jefferson County,” he added.
The first priority for the chosen candidate will be building community relationships, Pernsteiner said.
“For the first month, the priority for whoever gets picked for this south county position is going to be to make contact with all of the HOA presidents down there, to be able to go to their meetings, to talk to them, to meet with all of the businesses down there, to hand out cards, to be that face,” Pernsteiner said.
Pernsteiner said the deputy will reach out to leaders in school districts as well.
The south county may eventually see more devoted coverage from the sheriff’s office, Pernsteiner said.
“Once the Pleasant Harbor Resort starts to grow and they actually start building down there and they actually have people living on site, they’ve actually promised to fund an additional full-time deputy for south county,” Pernsteiner said. “If they’re able to get permits through the county to actually start building, in maybe two years, they would be able to start funding that.
“Our hope is that that actually happens and comes to fruition so we would be able to have a second deputy in that area of the county, and we would be able to provide 80 hours worth of coverage, versus just 40 hours a week to that area of the county.”
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
