Changes within the department, the fleet and more
I had the opportunity to sit down with Deputy Nate Ferrier again to discuss changes since our last meeting in August of 2020. The most obvious was the new promotion. Previously, as a Senior Deputy, Sgt. Ferrier’s responsibilities were many and it seems he has gained more. Whereas before, Sgt. Ferrier was only the assistant PIO [Public Information Officer] he has assumed that role completely. “I am also the field training coordinator, court liaison, and he is still the president of the Kings County Sheriff’s Deputies Association.
Last interview I was able to speak to Senior Deputy Cole Souza in his role as the Vice President of the KCSDA, however this interview he was on a well earned vacation. In his absence, we talked about the auto parts shortage and how the fleet has been affected “I haven’t heard anyone complain to badly about their cars being out for repairs to much longer than usual, that being said we haven’t been able to procure new Dodge Chargers to outfit for Patrol Vehicles. Rather we have purchased a selection of pickup trucks to replace the cars being phased out of active service.” Ferrier commented.
Community Reponses
Briefly I touched on the subject of public interaction with the sheriff’s department. “When we last spoke was during the riots and we’d had a lot of community support then. Thankfully we live and work in Kings County where generally the overall public response is positive to law enforcement. I’ve said this before, it’s a small strong hold here in California where the public really has a positive respect for law enforcement agencies and we are lucky to have that.” Ferrier added, “We really have a good community here and I know other larger city and county agencies are not as fortunate.”
Kings County Sheriff’s Department is currently very well staffed. A statement not shared by many other agencies in the Valley. Ferrier said ” We have many laterals, or hires from other agencies, coming to work for our department. With those and transfers from within the county, we haven’t had a shortage on operations. We are seeing a high turnover in the correctional department. We speculated on the stresses of each aspect of the job law enforcement entails. I added to this by saying it must not be easy to work in such a stressful and emotionally draining environment such as the jail. Ferrier added “I imagine it must begin to feel like a punishment itself to have that job, treated as the enemy and possibly have hateful words thrown at you. It must be very emotionally draining. It’s understandable why we see so many transfers.”
Crime in the Community
Speaking on the crime rate and calls for service the KCSO is often called to Ferrier said “The most common calls for service tend to be drug related, theft or traffic. I won’t say that is a comprehensive list but those are the calls for service I see with the most frequency. We have a major problem with drugs in Kings County.” We spoke about the issues with mental health and drug crimes having a connection. “It is hard to see my community hurting and feeling at a loss as to how best to help when there are less options to give help as there were before. Sgt. Ferrier explained “Legislation in recent years have caused an influx of repeat offenders to be released well before they can complete treatment due to the overcrowding. This sees them back to the same situations or worse that led them to substance abuses.”
After such a heavy topic I moved to community programs and naturally the Explorer’s post was mentioned. Below is the info for that.
The KCSO Explorer Post is open to any young person ages 14-20, with a 2.0 GPA and desire to learn about the career of law enforcement.
Explorers learn many aspects of law enforcement to include patrol operations, crime scene investigations, court services and correctional operations. explorers get hands-on training and experience in these areas that will help prepare them for a career in law enforcement.
Many Explorers have gone on to full-time Deputy positions with Kings County S.O. in Patrol, Court Services and the jail. Several other local law enforcement agencies also have former Explorers within their ranks of full-time peace officers.
Anyone interested in applying for an Explorer position is asked to contact Senior Deputy Andrew Mazza via email at andrew.mazza@co.kings.ca.us
Good news from the deputies
I asked about awards given since our last interview and Sgt. Ferrier mentioned the Class B commendation that was awarded to now retired Deputy John Daulton for returning a homeless veteran’s dog to him. The story was covered by the Hanford Sentinel back in May of 2021. You can find that article here at the Sentinel website.
The sheriffs office also has developed an app available to android and apple users. It can be found in the app store of your device. It has press releases and also can be used to submit information to the tip line. You can learn more about this and anything else you need to know here at the website.
Sgt. Ferrier and all members of the Kings County Sheriff’s Office can be counted on to keep us safe.
Stay safe and have fun,
Kenzi
Anchors And Whiskers© 