Sheriff says department has more officers on the force, is building three new sub-stations at parish borders at no cost to residents and is maintaining quick response times to calls for service

Sheriff James Pohlmann told the Chamber of Commerce quick response times to calls for service remains the hallmark of the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office.

The department is also making progress toward erasing the deficit he inherited when he took office, the sheriff said, while also increasing the number of officers on the streets, has upgraded its hiring process for deputies and is rebuilding three new sub-stations at parish boundaries at no cost to residents.

He said at a Chamber luncheon he inherited a $4.2 million deficit when he won office in November 2011 when he was Chief Deputy Sheriff, but began efforts to whittle it down before he took office July 1, 2012.

“We had to make difficult cuts,’’ to reduce the department budget, the biggest of which was the number of employees, which went from from 315 to 265.

The cuts resulted in a $2.5 million savings, the sheriff said, but despite those reductions and continuing cost-saving changes, he said, the department still faced a large deficit. Loans had to be taken in anticipation of revenue in order to avoid further cuts that could have affected crime-fighting ability.

That was why St. Bernard residents were asked to approve an increase in property taxes for the Sheriff’s Office in an April 2013 election. The public responded by approving the measure 61-39 percent.

“It not only got us out of the hole but allowed us to build for the future,’’ Sheriff Pohlmann said.

Now, the department has been able to hire more officers to patrol streets, with the force now numbering about 280, he said.

The hiring process for officers was also ungraded involving creation of a hiring board made up of experienced deputies who interview applicants and make recommendations he reviews, the sheriff said.

Using a pool of money from FEMA, along with a donation of land along Paris Road from the Meraux Foundation, the Sheriff’s Office is building three new sub-stations at the entrances to St. Bernard at no cost to parish residents.

The building housing the station now on Paris Road has been leased but building the department’s own place on Paris Road will free up the money used for leasing to go toward utilities for all the new buildings, the sheriff said.

Increased training programs for deputies have been implemented, the sheriff said, and through grants the department has been successful in obtaining money used to get its first mobile emergency command post, a patrol boat big enough to be used on the Missisippi River and a deep-water trucks that can used used for evacuating residents in a rain stiorm event.

Prison trusty work crews have been used in public projects with other agencies to help clean up highways and cut trees along canals to improve drainage and even help with levee maintenance, Sheriff Pohlmann said.

The sheriff also acknowledged that like elsewhere in the nation, drug abuse – particularly a surge in heroin use being seen throughout many areas – remains a problem and is the leading cause of property crimes. Addicts steal to get money to feed their habit, Sheriff Pohlmann said.

“If you could fix the drug problem you fix the crime problem,’’ he said.

The sheriff has often said he believes in drug abuse resistance programs in schools starting with very young students. He told Chamber members that spending money on education on the front end to prevent kids from getting hooked on drugs would be better than paying the costs of incarceration as well as drugs’ toll on society in general once children have grown up dependent on them.

“We know you can’t arrest your way out of the drug problem,’’ Sheriff Pohlmann said. Education and rehabilitation treatment programs are the best chance at a solution, he said.

The sheriff was asked by someone in the audience about his view on lowering penalties for marijuana possession or even eventual legalization. “I think it’s a bad idea,’’ Sheriff Pohlmann said.

Some people say legalizing its sale will help provide needed money and two states, Colorado and Washington, have now created systems where it can be legally purchased. But he said he feels it will only create more marijuana users, making it more likely marijuana will be bought and used by those who haven’t previously done so because it was illegal. He said he doesn’t believe long-time marijuana users will legally buy it and would continue to otherwise obtain it.