Danville sheriff’s race framed as experience versus fresh outlook

The campaign for Danville sheriff saw two issues — professionalism and cooperation with other agencies — raised consistently, while the three candidates tried to frame the election in their own terms as a choice between insiders with decades of experience versus an outsider with a new perspective. 

Lt. Mike Mondul, Lt. Thelbert Childress and Deputy J. Wayne Booth are running for sheriff. The election is Tuesday.

Mondul has portrayed himself as an outsider who has worked closely with the sheriff’s office.

“I bring to the table a fresh set of eyes and a fresh look,” he said.

His fresh look will help him identify policies and procedures that need change and will help him avoid a that’s-the-way-it’s-always-been-done attitude, he said.

At a glance
• Duties: The office runs the city jail; provides security for the city’s courthouse and five courtrooms; and serves civil paperwork, such as evictions, repossessions and garnishments.
• Budget: $4.9 million. The state of Virginia accounts for 55 percent of the budget, while city funding rounds out the remaining 45 percent. The office receives federal funding through grants for specific projects, such as installing new surveillance cameras and radios.
• Positions: 81, including three vacancies
• Salary: $95,292

Booth cited his 31 years of experience in the sheriff’s office during the campaign and said he is the answer to floundering morale. He said the office is not unified and employees are abusing the sick policy, leaving a few people to do a 10-person job on each shift.

“We got to get that closeness back to operate safely,” he said.

Childress also spoke to his 21 years of experience in the office during the campaign. He talked about his ability to get things accomplished in the sheriff’s office, citing a pay incentive for deputies to receive more schooling. Childress has already accomplished goals within the office, he said, and now he wants to accomplish more.

Professionalism

In debates and campaign events, the candidates talked about breakdowns professionalism in the sheriff’s office. In 2001, four sheriff’s deputies pleaded guilty to charges of sexual misconduct with female prisoners. The deputies had sex with the women in the Danville City Jail.

“I feel like that kind of thing can be prevented with proper supervision and proper integrity training,” Mondul said.

He said thorough screening in the hiring process also would prevent breakdowns of professionalism. He would lead by example and spend time in the jail and among his deputies. Mondul said he would keep his finger on the pulse of the office and not sit behind his desk all day.

Booth said he would have confronted the deputies involved in the sex scandal. If they denied it, Booth would pass the allegations up the ladder.

“When something bad like that happens, it personally effects all of us and causes an embarrassment,” he said.

He said supervisors and the sheriff need to be a presence in the jail and build a group of informants.

Childress said the best solution to preventing situations like the sex scandal would be a thorough screening process when hiring. He added that supervisors need to stay on top of their people on a daily basis, and the office needs to hire people with a strong moral backbone.

Cooperation

Mondul said he would cooperate with local agencies, especially with the Danville Police Department. He would start by reforming booking procedures at the Danville City Jail. Mondul said that the same information is entered three times: once by a police officer and twice by jail personnel.

He said he would streamline the process and let the jail book inmates after officers finish their paperwork so police could get back to the street.

“It’s much more efficient for those in the jail to do the booking process,” he said. “It’s no more work than’s already being done.”

Mondul also said he would increase the training deputies receive so they’d be ready for a Virginia Tech situation. Mondul referred to the shootings by Seung-Hui Cho in many debates and events.

The training will give deputies the ability to make a force continuum decision, meaning they’ll be able to appropriately choose when to use deadly force. He would also cross train with the police department’s SWAT team so the sheriff’s office could receive help if a riot breaks out in the jail.

“We need more opportunities for agencies that work together on a daily basis to train together,” he said. “In the event (that) a cross agency conflict happens, they’re better trained to respond.”

Initially, Booth said that deputies should learn police procedures and vice versa during a debate in July. But Booth said recently that he does not favor cross training between the sheriff’s office and police department.

“Our deputy sheriffs are perfectly capable of performing arrests or whatever they have to do,” he said.

People join the police department to be on the street, he said; people join the sheriff’s office to work the jail and courtrooms or to serve civil papers.

Childress said he would cooperate with governing bodies and have working relationships with the city manager and city council. He cited work he did to establish the education incentive and 25- and 50-year retirement benefits for the sheriff’s office. He said benefits and pay are two tools that the office can use to recruit better job candidates.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Residents have to show a form of identification and go to their assigned precinct. You can find your polling place online at http://www.sbe.virginia.gov.