Five months after a rural southern Colorado sheriff and several of his deputies were indicted and removed from office, county leaders say they’re running out of money to fund law enforcement operations.
The Costilla County commissioners on Tuesday passed a resolution finding an “extraordinary law enforcement staffing shortage” that threatens essential public safety services.
Joe Smith, the interim sheriff since March, told commissioners he has three people, including himself, to patrol and respond to calls across 1,230 square miles near the New Mexico state line.
These three officers are working 80 to 90 hours per week, he said. During portions of the week, there’s only one of them on duty at a time.
As a result of the staffing shortage, Smith said his people are forced to triage calls, determining “what’s the most criminal.”
“These folks, frankly, feel like they’re treating us as if we’re the volunteer fire department,” Smith told The Denver Post on Wednesday.
Costilla County has been scrambling to staff its sheriff's department since March, when the San Luis Valley district attorney indicted former Sheriff Danny Sanchez and four of his employees on a host of felony and misdemeanor charges.
Prosecutors allege Sanchez failed to investigate skeletal human remains found in the county, allowed a deputy to collect the person’s skull in a used paper grocery bag, and failed to gather all the evidence or follow up on the case.
In a separate incident, the grand jury indicted Undersheriff Cruz Soto, Sgt. Caleb Sanchez and Deputy Roland Riley for allegedly deploying their Tasers on a man in the midst of a mental health crisis as he was attempting to walk away.
In May, The Post reported that District Attorney Anne Kelly had seized financial records from Costilla County as her office investigated further allegations of malfeasance. The newspaper also spoke with several former sheriff's employees, who detailed instances where personnel misplaced or lost evidence in murder cases, failed to write reports and repeatedly neglected to provide evidence to prosecutors.
Commissioners passed Tuesday's resolution to help the county apply for financial assistance from the state. The officials said they have been in touch with the Colorado Department of Public Safety and the Department of Local Affairs as they seek emergency funds.
The state did provide money and mutual aid from other law enforcement entities immediately after the indictments, but those funds have expired. Other agencies, meanwhile, are no longer sending deputies to help staff the department.
Smith said he needs at least nine deputies to cover the county. In June, he had six people, but at the end of that month, county officials told him they were over budget and needed to cut the staff.
Down to four officers, Smith said he had to terminate another deputy after the State Patrol caught him driving 105 mph in a marked patrol car while off-duty.
Still, the county is supposed to have a budget to fund 9.5 people in the sheriff's department, he said.
"Something doesn't add up," Smith said. "I don't know what they're talking about, that we're out of money."
Ben Doon, the county's chief administrative officer, said the $761,426 sheriff's office budget doesn't include any money earmarked for overtime, but the county has been forced to pay significant overages because of the staffing issues.
The county also had to pay several of the indicted officers while they were on paid administrative leave, he said in an email.
"Paying officers for several months while they weren't working also had a negative impact on the budget," Doon said.
Smith, though, says he's considering suing the county over $70,000 in unpaid overtime claims.
"I don't mind filing the lawsuit if they don't come to their senses," he said.
Doon said state and federal law exempt high-level elected officials and executives who manage public agencies from overtime requirements.
"I don't believe there is a sheriff in the state of Colorado that is eligible for overtime," he said. " ... This has been explained to him many times."
