Concerns raised over MCSO responses to emergency calls

In reaction to a series of public comments and letters regarding the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office, the Mineral County Commissioners held a meeting Friday to discuss complaints that the office is not properly responding to emergency calls.

Many of the county’s elected officials - including County Justice of the Peace Wanda James, County Attorney Marcia Boris and Clerk and Recorder Staci Hayes – were on hand at the meeting and County Attorney Boris began things by asking the commissioner what specifically would be addressed.

“We’ve just been getting comments and letters concerning the Sheriff’s Office and we wanted to maybe address some of them so the public will know that we are not not addressing the situation,” County Commissioner Laurie Johnston said. “That’s kind of where we are at.”

Commissioner Duane Simons added that he received a letter in response to a particular incident in St. Regis where residents were not satisfied with an investigation into a home break-in.

Mineral County Undersheriff Mike Boone was on hand representing MCSO and said that he was aware of the incident Commissioner Simons was referring too but that was the total of his knowledge regarding complaints and the meeting in general, which on the agenda was called “MCSO Update.”

Over the course of the meeting various attendees offered anecdotes as examples of why the complaints are being received with regards to MCSO, including County Attorney Boris and Judge James.

“On Tuesday, I was in my office about 3:30 in the afternoon and I got a phone call from Tim Case, our probation officer,” County Attorney Boris said. “Mr. Case was seeking my advice on how to handle a situation he had gotten into out in St. Regis,” County Attorney Boris said Case had a “chance encounter” with an individual during routine house checks of the area and the individual became “very aggressive.”

“He was yelling at him (Case) and had him a little nervous,” County Attorney Boris said. “He called me and I could hear this individual in the background yelling. It sounded like the situation certainly has the potential to get out of hand. I asked him if he needed me to call the cops and he said ‘well I already called the Sheriff’s Office and they don’t have anyone available.’ “

Upon receiving Case’s response, County Attorney Boris found out where he was and immediately contacted dispatch.

“I was told by the dispatcher that answered the phone they had just gotten off the phone with him a few minutes ago and she had also heard the individual yelling on the phone,” County Attorney Boris said. “You (Undersheriff Boone) were on your way to Missoula with a transport and Ernie was unavailable, and I am going to quote her, ‘because he is right here by me doing something on the computer.’ We have an individual who is out in the course of his duties trying to do his job and he could not get back up.”

County Attorney Boris called the situation “unacceptable” and said she called Montana Highway Patrol to send someone to assist Case.

“From a liability standpoint it is unacceptable and from the standpoint of having each other’s back it is unacceptable,” County Attorney Boris said.

Judge James then spoke about the frequency of residents approaching the dispatch office at the courthouse and being told that their issue is a civil matter rather than a criminal one. Those individuals are then sent to Judge James’ office.

“The dispatchers are wonderful but what training do they have to be able to determine whether a situation is criminal or civil,” Judge James said. “Sometimes I don’t even know but we get many people coming in saying they went to the Sheriff’s Office and were told ‘this is a civil matter’ and most of the time we can’t help them.”

Judge James also gave an anecdote about a situation she called “chilling” in which she was out on her front porch and heard a voice saying “help us, please help us.”

“I hear her asking for help so I call the Sheriff’s Office and a dispatcher answers and he says he will call someone,” Judge James said. “Nothing happened and I didn’t hear anything so I walked over to the house and nobody answered. When I got to work I went to dispatch and was told he called (the woman who Judge James heard call for help) and she said everything was ok. If any understand domestic violence, if she is called and he is holding a gun to her head she is not going to say she was asking for help for her and her daughter.”

Once Judge James concluded her story, a county resident stood up and asked if people “realize” how shorthanded MCSO is.

“I can address that one,” County Attorney Boris said. “The Sheriff’s Office has been telling us for two-years, actually the two and a half years I’ve been here, how shorthanded they are. I don’t disagree that the Sheriff’s Office is trying to do a lot with a little but I am aware that my husband, who is a highway patrol trooper, was written up by the sheriff because he responded to an incident without being invited. We should have each other’s backs. If you guys are shorthanded those kind of complaints should never be made.”

Several other attendees shared stories involving their experiences with the Sheriff’s Office prior to Clerk and Recorder Hayes speaking about Sheriff Ernie Ornelas’ absence.

“I want to point out that Mike Boone, who is sitting here, I think we can all acknowledge that he is not the one that should be taking the brunt of this,” Clerk and Recorder Staci Hayes said. “I love Ernie as a person but he should have been here. Day off or not, you can schedule an hour to come in and take the heat for your office. If I’m not mistaken he didn’t even tell Mike what this was about.”

County Attorney Boris agreed with Hayes and said it wasn’t about Undersheriff Boone, rather about “what has apparently become” policy in the MCSO.

In an interview Sunday with the Mineral Independent, Sheriff Ornelas said he felt it was “unfair” that he was “lamb blasted” for not showing up to the meeting given the circumstances.

Sheriff Ornelas stated he was not aware of the specifics of the meeting when he received the agenda on June 19 and when he asked into it he said he would not be able to attend given a weekend where two major events, Mudfest and the Trail Rail Run, were taking place – adding that the shooting on Wednesday also added more hours to his workload than expected and in the course of his duties Wednesday and Thursday he worked 27 hours and as a result took prescribed medication Thursday evening that even if he had planned on attending the meeting made it physically impossible for him to attend.

After saying he would not be available to come in for the meeting, Sheriff Ornelas received an email from County Attorney Boris requesting Undersheriff Boone attend if he could not make it.

Sheriff Ornelas declined to comment on the issues raised with his department during the meeting other than that the issues would be “addressed at a later date.”