Published: 10.06.2008
Pima sheriff's race: Security officer challenging Dupnik
SHERYL KORNMAN
Tucson Citizen
The 2008 Pima County sheriff race pits a Democrat in the post since 1980 against a Republican challenger who has never held public office and wants to trim $2 million from the department's $111 million annual budget.
Harry Shaw, the Republican contender, said he wants to save money by eliminating some administrative jobs and housing prisoners in tents.
He also wants to cut back on the amount of food served to inmates who spend most of the day in their cells, while inmates who work would get a higher-calorie diet.
Shaw said the department has too many supervisors in human resources and should put the ones who are qualified to do patrol work back on patrol.
Clarence W. Dupnik, Pima County Sheriff since 1980, said using tents to house prisoners costs as much as housing them in jails - minus the capital cost.
Using tents would require construction of cement slabs, installation of heating and cooling systems and toilets; food services and corrections personnel to supervise the inmates, he said.
Shaw said it is "time for new blood" and time to "end the good old boy system" in the Sheriff's Department."
"This has been a hand-me-down job since 1970," he told the Tucson Editorial Board on Sept. 17.
Dupnik said the department "was a shambles when I came in" and that he has created over the years "a structure for the organization that holds people accountable."
He said "maintaining integrity and honesty in the organization is a special problem," however, and he blames the Pima County Merit System Commission.
Dupnik said it takes away from the sheriff the ability to fire an employee who should be fired.
"If I fire somebody, they can put them back in and they do," he said. "That (system) ought to be changed."
Shaw said a key goal of his term as county sheriff would be to "close down the border."
"It's the job of local law enforcement to protect this county," he said. "Breaking the law is breaking the law, no matter where they came from. The guys coming up here with the drugs, it's also a state offense, not just a federal offense. We can do it," he said. "It's not that hard."
Dupnik said there are 3,000 Border Patrol officers to handle border crime.
He said deputies in Pima County routinely advise federal agents when they come into contact with an "illegal immigrant" but release them if an agent doesn't show up "in a timely manner."
Shaw said the Border Patrol is understaffed and that local law enforcement should step in.
Regarding local crime, Shaw said the sheriff's department needs an anti-gang unit.
But Dupnik said targeting gangs is already the job of the department's Safe Streets program, "which does much of what anti-gang would do."
Dupnik said the department consistently targets career criminals and works to get them off the streets.
"We know who the bad guys are," he said.
Shaw said the county is at risk from "terrorists," some new here from New Mexico and Texas. He said they represent some 30 terrorist groups or "gangs" operating in Pima County. Shaw said he wants to target them.
Shaw also said he'd like to seek grants to offer literacy training to jail inmates, to help them improve their lives.
Dupnik said the department needs more funding to hire more crime lab workers to handle the growing volume of work.
He said court appearances by crime lab workers testifying in criminal cases take them away from laboratory work on new cases.
"Every department in the United States has the same crisis," an insufficient number of crime lab staff, Dupnik said.
Shaw said he would make sure the department has a radio system that allows it to communicate with Tucson police.
Dupnik said that effort is under way.
In 2004, voters approved a bond project that paves the way for 32 public safety agencies in the county to be able to speak to each other via radio. That system, estimated to cost $92 million, is expected to be operational in early 2011.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/98673.php