Sheriff Is Searching For Leaker

From:
The Florida Times-Union
July 26, 2007Stress test talk ends in budget cut for sheriff
By Gordon Jackson, The Times-Union
KINGSLAND, Ga. - Sheriff Bill Smith is requiring some deputies to submit to voice stress tests to determine who has been talking to the FBI, Georgia Bureau of Investigation and news media about his office, a Camden County commissioner said.
Commissioner Steve Berry made the claim at a meeting Tuesday in which commissioners voted 3-1 to slash the budget for the Camden County Sheriff's Office by $1.3 million.
Berry used the voice stress tests as an example of how Smith is unnecessarily spending taxpayer dollars for purposes that have nothing to do with public safety.
When asked how he learned about the voice stress tests, which work similarly to polygraph tests, Berry said he received a phone call from a deputy who had just been required to take the voice analysis.
The tests were conducted Monday and Tuesday, he said.
"They've spent the past two days trying to ferret out who has been talking to the GBI, FBI and the press," he said after Tuesday's meeting.
Smith said he had just returned to his office Wednesday afternoon and didn't "have a chance to think about" the commission's vote cutting his budget.
Smith said he was in a conference and had no time to answer any more questions. He referred other questions to Lt. William Terrell.
"No decisions have been made one way or the other," Terrell said of the budget. "We will consider all of our options."
Capt. Wesley Walker said Wednesday he couldn't comment if Berry's claims were accurate.
"We are currently conducting an internal investigation within the Sheriff's Office," Walker said. "That's all I can say at this point."
Berry also said at the meeting that Smith has used inmate labor to work on his own property.
He described the inmate labor program as "an utter, total failure" and accused the Sheriff's Office of "corruption at the upper level of that department."
"It's fraud, waste and abuse," Berry said.
Berry said he learned about inmate labor working on property owned by Smith from eyewitnesses.
"I have been talking to people who have personal involvement in this," Berry said in a phone interview Wednesday. "I have talked to people - inmates and deputies - who have first-hand knowledge of it."
When asked about Berry's claims about inmate labor, Walker said he couldn't comment on anything to do with the issue "because inmate labor [from the Camden County Jail] is part of an ongoing investigation with the GBI."
The purpose of Tuesday's special-called meeting was for commissioners to vote on the sheriff's portion of the annual budget, which was tabled last week after elected officials voted to approve the rest of the county's budget.
Commissioners had asked the sheriff's office to trim the $8.3 million budget he submitted for consideration at a meeting held July 17. Instead, sheriff's officials turned in another $8.3 million budget request for consideration.
Walker told commissioners before the vote his office had made all the cuts they could make before resubmitting the proposed budget.
Berry, however, criticized the sheriff's office for spending more than $9 million the previous fiscal year, even though the office submitted a $7.6 million budget that was approved by commissioners a year ago.
"Now, you want a $700,000 increase over what your department was budgeted last year," he said. "The problem here is you've got a budget out of control. I've never heard you folks talking about cutting this budget."
Early in the debate, Commissioner David Rainer made a motion to approve the proposed $8.3 million budget. But later in the meeting, Berry made an amended motion to approve a $7 million budget - $1.3 million less than requested by the Sheriff's Office.
"I think it's the right thing to do," he said. "We're going to take it out of the hide of the people who created this problem."
Commissioner David Rainer suggested the budget could be reduced over a longer time period, but Berry disagreed.
"If you cut the dog's tail one inch at a time, you've got a problem," he said. "Whack it all off at one time."
Berry's motion was approved 3-1, with commission chairman Preston Rhodes and commissioner Katherine Zell voting in support of the $7 million budget. Rainer voted against the motion. Commissioner Charlene Sears abstained from the vote because her full-time job in the Sheriff's Office would be a conflict of interest.
The lower budget means Camden County taxpayers will see no increase in their property taxes, commissioners said.
After the meeting Sears said, "Get ready for court," as she left the meeting room.
Berry, who was among those who heard Sears' comment, said it was "a typical comment for the commissioner who represents the district of Bill Smith."
"She can no longer really function as a commissioner representing the voters in District 4," he said. "She has completely, utterly sold her soul to Bill Smith."
Sears did not respond to four phone calls Wednesday for comment.
Walker said he was uncertain how the Sheriff's Office will respond to the budget cut by commissioners. One option is layoffs for some staff. Another possibility is a lawsuit against the county to force funding to cover the costs of providing an adequate level of protection for residents, he said.
"We are not happy with that," Walker said of the vote. "Voting 3-1, we're going to have to live with $7 million."
gordon.jackson@jacksonville.com,
(912) 729-3672