I will lead with increased organization and communication.  A  Sheriff’s Office needs guidance and organization.  We will endeavor to continually improve upon the work that we do, for the good of those in the trenches - serving the community, and the citizens who count on us.  My goals for your Sheriff’s Office include, but are not limited to:

1.      The Sheriff is accountable for the budget.  Citizens have a right to expect that promises shall be kept.  The entire Sheriff’s Office budget needs a complete overhaul, starting with the complex and convoluted accounting.  The first step in accomplishing this task will be to combine the many budgets into one manageable structure.  The next step requires going through every individual line item, categorizing its importance and identifying waste, misappropriation, and surpluses.  Then re-appropriating those resources to better use. 

2.      Introduction of new technology into dispatch and patrol.  Much of the current dispatch system is state of the art, but some components utilize antiquated technology.  By continuing to improve technology, service will improve, safety will be increased  and money will be saved.

3.      Introduce a specific website just for the Sheriff's Office, where the public can access all wanted or needed information, including an online list of current warrants in Lake County.  In addition, the Sheriff’s Office budget will be placed and updated on a regular basis on this website.

4.      Our school resource program needs to be extended to include a youth detective program, specifically during the summer time when school is not in session.
 

5.      Better use and administration of the road deputies by re-defining the patrol zones, better use of resident deputies, and introduction of reserve deputies into patrol shifts so that officers are not responding to calls by themselves, but with a reserve officer assigned to patrol shift – two officers to a car.

6.      There has not been any Sheriff’s Office presence on the Flathead Lake in years.  You voted to have an operation boat and law enforcement presence on Flathead Lake.  It was campaigned for and approved in the Mil Levy, and you should have it.

7.      All Lake County Special Response Team members will be Montana POST SWAT certified.  By properly training all team members, training can be joined with Flathead and Missoula Counties, providing better protection to you, the tax payer.

8.      Establish modern and secure satellite offices in the Swan Lake and Arlee areas.  Officers spend too much time driving to Polson, just to do reports.  Their time can be more efficiently managed if they are working in their respected patrol areas.

9.      Lake County Deputies must be held to a higher standard than those we serve. Citizens expect that deputies will conduct themselves in a manner that is honorable in both their professional and personal conduct. Lake County Deputies and other employees will be accountable for their actions.

10.  The Lake County Sheriff’s Office will conduct meetings on a regular basis, for all departments.  Proper leadership begins with good communication.  By holding routine meetings, all deputies, dispatchers, detention officers, and support staff will receive training and crucial information about the workings of the office.  This is also a great tool for administration to manage from the bottom up, not the top down.

  “I do not want your vote for a change…I want your vote to make a difference.”

 

This website paid for by:
Steve Kendley for Lake County Sheriff
PO Box 1533
Polson, MT, 59860
Richard Bachmeier, Treasurer