Sworn into office by District Court Judge Todd Plewe on Jan. 13, Nowlin promised to make several changes within his first 100 days as sheriff. That 100-day deadline hits April 24.
Via an email exchange, The Cortez Journal received the following replies from Nowlin about his top campaign guarantees. In full disclosure, some of Nowlin’s remarks have been edited because of space limitations.
1. Has an audit of the sheriff’s office been performed and completed?
An audit of the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office is scheduled to start after April 15. The delay is due to conflicts related to tax season.
2. Has the process of instituting new department-wide policies and procedures been completed?
Eleven new interim policies have been implemented. Lexipol has been hired to prepare custom department-wide policies, and a proper line-by-line review takes several months. We are waiting for the new policies to arrive.
3. Have employees been re-tested, and have any reassignments been made?
Restructuring is in progress. We just completed retesting for a patrol lieutenant, and Deputy Vernon Knuckles was promoted to the position on April 13. Retesting for detective lieutenant will also start this month, and a deputy will also be selected this month to the Southwest Drug Task Force. We have also accepted applications to replace the retiring office manager, and we anticipate filling that position in early May.
Selected in January, our School Resource Officer is making great progress with safety and drug education. Those efforts will continue.
Our new contract agreement with the Town of Dolores allowed us to assign two deputies to the town and northeastern portions of Montezuma County.
We also created a full-time Agriculture Deputy position to work closely with citizens, state brand inspectors, animal protection agents, division of water resources and district irrigation water managers.
4. What improvements have been made for employee health care?
We are currently researching measures to improve health care for all employees and their dependents. When it’s completed, I will be discussing possible solutions and improvements with county officials.
5. Can you comment about the success of new alcohol and drug counselors inside the jail?
The daily mental health and drug and alcohol counseling have been successful, and we will expand opportunities and solutions for inmates with other counseling programs. A room inside the detention center is under current renovation to accommodate inmate-counseling sessions. We have also submitted a grant request to provide online educational opportunities through the Unlimited Learning Center in Cortez.
6. Are all video cameras inside the jail operational? What’s the status of deputy body cams?
Maintenance of the detention center is starting to improve. Most of the video cameras are operational, but the work is not complete. Some of the work has to be outsourced, and repair delays have been an issue. However, the daily maintenance and repair is starting to get completed despite a backlog of maintenance issues.
(Note: Nowlin didn’t respond to the deputy body cam question).
7. What’s the status on re-establishing auto theft and narcotic interagency task forces?
The Sheriff’s Office joined the Southwest Drug Task Force in January. It consists of officers from Montezuma, La Plata and Archuleta counties, including municipal and federal officials. These solid partnerships are vital to our drug enforcement efforts. Training opportunities for our officers started this month with assistance from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
The Sheriff’s Office will re-establish our partnerships with the Colorado State Patrol, Cortez Police Department, Mancos Marshal’s Office, Durango Police Department and La Plata County Sheriff’s Office for an auto theft team and grant funding through the Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Authority. It’s possible that the Bureau of Indian Affairs could also join the team. Certified Auto Theft Investigator Training for our deputies is also planned to take place this year.
8. What type of personnel training has been offered and/or planned this year?
Colorado POST essential training for firearms, use of force, arrest control and driving has been initiated and is scheduled monthly. We’ve also utilized training with the V-Academy and the National Sheriff’s Association. Other training opportunities include water law, traffic crash investigation, ethics in law enforcement, wildfire exercises, elder abuse, physical evidence submission and reporting and school safety. In the coming year, our training will also include emergency driving, search and seizure, search warrant preparation, report writing, English composition, active shooter, criminal case preparation, courtroom testimony, livestock law enforcement, theft investigations, search and rescue, incident command systems, wildlife laws, crime scene investigation and drug investigation. We also are exploring Colorado POST certification for both mounted patrol and VIN inspector.
9. What type of meetings have you held with the community? Are others planned?
I have met with many different community organizations including the Mesa Verde Back Country Horsemen, Cortez Rotary and the 9/12 group. We also sponsored a “Water Law 101” class for the public last month. Another water law class is planned at the Mancos Community Center starting at 6 p.m. on April 30.
Other community meetings will be held later this year to seek input and suggestions once essential community policing programs are implemented, such as the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office Mounted Patrol Program.
tbaker@cortezjournal.com