New sheriffs in town

2011-08-23 Kelowna Daily Courier:
 Three new sheriffs will soon be policing the Kelowna courthouse.  The B.C. government is hiring 36 new sheriffs across the province in response to complaints about a shortage.  "We are pleased the government has listened to the concerns from sheriffs, judges and the public about the need to have proper security in our courts," said BCGEU president Darryl Walker, who revealed the news on Monday. "The entire court system has slowed to a crawl for the past couple of years, because the government hasn‘t replaced vacant sheriff positions. "This is a welcome step forward, but the government needs to continue to replace the more than 100 sheriffs that have left to higher paying law enforcement jobs." The cuts caused a number of trials to be adjourned or stood down, including a home invasion trial and a murder trial, because judges felt their courts were unsafe without the presence of a deputy sheriff to provide security, said Walker. The number of sheriffs has gone from 525 just a few years ago to approximately 385 now, according to the BCGEU. "The reduction in the number of sheriffs is due primarily to the hiring freeze that has been in place for the past two years within government," said Dean Purdy, chairman of the union‘s Corrections and Sheriff Services component. "We have lost a number of members to other higher paying law enforcement agencies like the police and sheriffs in Alberta, who earn $15,000 a year more." The B.C. government announced the new positions will be a mix of regular, permanent part-time and auxiliary. In June, the Attorney General‘s ministry authorized Crown lawyers to withdraw from their courtroom duties if they believed their safety was at risk because of the lack of sheriffs. Judges in Kelowna and Victoria cited safety concerns when they temporarily shut their courtrooms because no sheriff was available to provide security or escort prisoners.  Kelowna Judge Jane Cartwright slammed the B.C. government for failing to supply enough sheriffs. "What the government wants is for me to continue in a potentially dangerous, usually volatile courtroom without security, and I won‘t," she said in May. "It‘s ridiculous to run courtrooms this way." The Kelowna courthouse now has 12 sheriffs