Ornelas taking care of business

For eight weeks, Sheriff Ernie Ornelas has been heading up the Mineral County Sheriff’s Department. Of those eight weeks, he was gone for two weeks for trainings up in Helena.

“So that’s left me six week to get as much stuff done that we needed to get done,” Ornelas said.

Ornelas said that there were a lot of things leftover that needed to be taken care. From administrative work to some personnel issues, Ornelas said that to date the public may not see a visible change, but things have been getting done.

Ornelas said that he wants the public to know that on January 7, the selection board for the election of an undersheriff was convened and that he hoped that sometime this week, there would be a notification released on who had been selected to fill the role as his undersheriff.

“Rumors are still persisting that I had already selected my undersheriff, but that’s not the case,” Ornelas said. “Everything is all set for the board to convene.”

Ornelas said that he didn’t want to get into the issues faced with hiring personnel, but said that they have hired two additional officers, which will need to spend time at the academy. He said that they are trying to figure out whether or not they can send them both at the same time.

“We are at five currently,” Ornelas said. “My hope is that by the summer will be working with our numbers back up at six.”

Vehicles have also been a big issue for the department. Ornelas said that new vehicles were not acquired when they should have been.

“They are very run down and we’re having a lot of breakage,” Ornelas said.

However, one vehicle was purchased and Ornelas hopes to have a second one soon. He said that one of the department’s vehicles is currently not marked and he wants to let the public know it will not stay that way. They are waiting to get the second vehicle and then he said it is planned that new markings and new designs will be placed on the department’s vehicle.

The public can also expect to see changes in the department’s uniforms, which will not be costing the taxpayers any money as the deputies receive a uniform allowance on a quarterly basis.

“It’s not going to be your standard military look,” Ornelas said. “It is going to be what I refer to as a softer look.”

Ornelas said that a lot of departments are changing the look of their uniforms.

“One of the things is that our deputies are nor working in an urban area where a standard uniform might be needed. These guys have to get out into the woods and they need to have a uniform that is more durable and more practical for what they do,” Ornelas said. “The old standard uniform sets the deputies apart from the people and sometimes people might feel like that can’t approach. I think it will make officers more approachable.”

Care of the uniforms will also be easier. Ornelas said that the current uniforms are supposed to be dry cleaned and there isn’t a place to do that in Mineral County. He said the new uniforms will be something the officers can wash and wear with a touch-up iron on the trousers.

“They’ll also be able to buy more uniforms for their money,” Ornelas said.

Ornelas also added that they will be returning to the traditional seven-pointed star badge as well.

Ornelas said that he is still waiting on the Web site as there’s a possibility that the county might expand. He said that right now he’s working on getting a Facebook page set up to get information out.

The sheriff’s department has also reconnected with crime stoppers, a service that allows residents to call in and remain anonymous when reporting any suspicious activity or crimes. The crime stoppers that they are affiliated with also include Missoula and Ravalli counties as well. Ornelas said that he will be releasing the number shortly.

“It’s taking time to get a lot of things done I was talking about during the campaign, but I’m still looking at citizen patrol programs and getting our reserve deputy program up and going again,” Ornelas said. “We’re revamping that hiring process in that the reserves will go through the same process. They have the same job and the same powers therefore they need to go through the same process as a regular deputy.”

Ornelas said that he’s also taken a look at the issue of the jail housing federal inmates, but it all comes down to the fact that Mineral County can’t get any federal inmates unless there is overflow in Missoula.

“And they haven’t had the amount of prisoners they have had in the past,” Ornelas said.

He also said that the plan is to also get the drug dog more involved in all aspects of law enforcement. Ornelas also said that they realize there is a big drug problem in the county with people doing drugs, selling drugs and diverting prescription drugs.

“If you’re going drugs, we’re coming after you,” Ornelas said.