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Incline Village Constable Joe Kubo and his van may not be used as often for transporting prisoners arrested in Incline Village/Crystal Bay because of a Washoe County Sheriff's Office decision to take over 50 percent of those responsibilities.
INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. - The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office substation’s redistricting isn’t a good idea because it would leave staffing thin at certain times and put citizens and WCSO deputies in danger, said Incline Village Constable Joe Kubo.
It’s a claim Capt. Steven Kelly of the WCSO’s Southern District contends, saying a service drop is not expected for the Incline Village/ Crystal Bay area.
Kubo’s claim that the sheriff’s office would suffer a lack of service came after the sheriff’s office declined to support a continuation of the constable’s prisoner transportation program.
The program allows for on-call constable’s office personnel to transport prisoners from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office substation to the detention facility in Reno. Kelly said he would support a 50 percent reduction in the Constable’s prisoner transportation budget.
If Kubo’s budget is cut, hourly and on-call constable’s personnel would be let go.
“We felt that was a service we could absorb,” Kelly said.
That’s where the problem lies, Kubo said. Prisoner transports can take an average of about three hours, from picking up the prisoner and transferring them from substation deputies to constable’s employees to driving down to Reno and booking them in, Kubo said.
Deputies might be away from the Incline area for too long doing a task previously handled by the constable with the new reductions.
And, with two deputies stationed in Incline while a sergeant may be based in south Reno, Kubo fears a one-deputy scenario.
“My biggest fear is I don’t want one of them (the deputies) to be up here by himself in a fight waiting for backup,” Kubo said.
Kelly said the argument is null because generally deputies can drop off prisoners to fellow deputies just over Mt. Rose, taking them away from the area for only about 20 minutes to one half hour. This is how deputies handled transports 15 years ago before the prisoner transport program started, Kelly said.
The constable’s services would still be needed at certain times each day.
Other options include calling for backup from Placer County, Kelly said.
“We call Placer not on a daily basis but at least a few times each week, we’ll respond there and they’ll respond here,” Kelly said. “We have a good relationship with them.”
Kubo, a 9-year constable and previously a California police officer, said any amount of time is too long to wait for backup and may force deputies to make risky decisions.
“If someone has to respond to a domestic dispute, does he break policy and enter the home by himself because of a moral obligation?,” Kubo said. “What if Placer is busy with their own business, that side of the North Shore is much larger than Incline?”
“At best, this is a plan that gambles that nothing will go wrong,” Kubo wrote in an e-mail to the Bonanza. “That which should be foreseen will never occur, and that deputies will only make arrests or respond to emergency after an arrest has been made, during the overlap period. This has only one end result. A citizen or deputy will be killed or injured.”
Kelly said he expects no drop in service to Incline/Crystal Bay, and said that, if anything, Incline will benefit from the change because using WCSO deputies to transport prisoners is a more efficient use of time.
“Since they’ll pick up their patrol vehicles in the Valley, we’ll have a patrol vehicle going back down,” Kelly said. “Why shouldn’t it have a prisoner in it?”
Chief Mike Brown of the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District said he has discussed the redistricting plan on a number of occasions with Haley and speaks with the Sheriff about once each week. The Fire District shares dispatch with the substation and the two routinely respond to the same calls.
“Sheriff Haley and I have a very good working relationship,” Brown said. “The Fire District will be monitoring any issues that arise from the change, and we feel confident that if we have any issues we can take them to the sheriff’s department.”
It’s a claim Capt. Steven Kelly of the WCSO’s Southern District contends, saying a service drop is not expected for the Incline Village/ Crystal Bay area.
Kubo’s claim that the sheriff’s office would suffer a lack of service came after the sheriff’s office declined to support a continuation of the constable’s prisoner transportation program.
The program allows for on-call constable’s office personnel to transport prisoners from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office substation to the detention facility in Reno. Kelly said he would support a 50 percent reduction in the Constable’s prisoner transportation budget.
If Kubo’s budget is cut, hourly and on-call constable’s personnel would be let go.
“We felt that was a service we could absorb,” Kelly said.
That’s where the problem lies, Kubo said. Prisoner transports can take an average of about three hours, from picking up the prisoner and transferring them from substation deputies to constable’s employees to driving down to Reno and booking them in, Kubo said.
Deputies might be away from the Incline area for too long doing a task previously handled by the constable with the new reductions.
And, with two deputies stationed in Incline while a sergeant may be based in south Reno, Kubo fears a one-deputy scenario.
“My biggest fear is I don’t want one of them (the deputies) to be up here by himself in a fight waiting for backup,” Kubo said.
Kelly said the argument is null because generally deputies can drop off prisoners to fellow deputies just over Mt. Rose, taking them away from the area for only about 20 minutes to one half hour. This is how deputies handled transports 15 years ago before the prisoner transport program started, Kelly said.
The constable’s services would still be needed at certain times each day.
Other options include calling for backup from Placer County, Kelly said.
“We call Placer not on a daily basis but at least a few times each week, we’ll respond there and they’ll respond here,” Kelly said. “We have a good relationship with them.”
Kubo, a 9-year constable and previously a California police officer, said any amount of time is too long to wait for backup and may force deputies to make risky decisions.
“If someone has to respond to a domestic dispute, does he break policy and enter the home by himself because of a moral obligation?,” Kubo said. “What if Placer is busy with their own business, that side of the North Shore is much larger than Incline?”
“At best, this is a plan that gambles that nothing will go wrong,” Kubo wrote in an e-mail to the Bonanza. “That which should be foreseen will never occur, and that deputies will only make arrests or respond to emergency after an arrest has been made, during the overlap period. This has only one end result. A citizen or deputy will be killed or injured.”
Kelly said he expects no drop in service to Incline/Crystal Bay, and said that, if anything, Incline will benefit from the change because using WCSO deputies to transport prisoners is a more efficient use of time.
“Since they’ll pick up their patrol vehicles in the Valley, we’ll have a patrol vehicle going back down,” Kelly said. “Why shouldn’t it have a prisoner in it?”
Chief Mike Brown of the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District said he has discussed the redistricting plan on a number of occasions with Haley and speaks with the Sheriff about once each week. The Fire District shares dispatch with the substation and the two routinely respond to the same calls.
“Sheriff Haley and I have a very good working relationship,” Brown said. “The Fire District will be monitoring any issues that arise from the change, and we feel confident that if we have any issues we can take them to the sheriff’s department.”
