Blog Post #3 (Story #2)

County Commissioners Vote Against Sheriff’s Request

Sheriff Gus DiCesari of Anoka County had a heated discussion with the county commissioners on Thursday over equipment and personnel. The sheriff told commissioners that he needs money to purchase eight new police cruisers to replace old cruisers with over 150,000 miles on them. He said, “it is getting too costly to maintain older vehicles and they spend too much time in the repair shop. You commissioners eliminated the equipment budgets for my department this year and now I can’t buy anything. This is the first time in my 27 years as sheriff that the county hasn’t allocated money to the sheriff’s department to buy equipment. My deputies can’t keep driving these old vehicles. Something bad is going to happen.” He also mentioned that he wants to hire five new deputies.

The cars and salaries of five new deputies for a year total $580,000; Commission President Anne Chenn told DiCesari that he’ll have to make do without the money this year. DiCesari said, “you’re putting the lives of the people of this county in jeopardy.” Chenn suggested that deputies not drive their cruisers home each day as they do now to preserve mileage and to make more cars available at the station.

Commissioners estimate that there are 5,000 migrant families now in the county. Two of the county commissioners agreed with the sheriff, with the belief that they should spend more money on the sheriff’s department and law enforcement than programs for migrant workers who come to the county for work. Chenn disagreed and said that the county ran short of money this year because of health care for employees and higher fuel costs. The county also spent $30 million to build a new prison to alleviate overcrowding, taking from the total county budget of $127 million. After the debate, the commissioners voted 5-2 against the sheriff’s request for a budget to allow for new cruisers and more deputies.