Portsmouth council aims to replace sheriff’s patrol squad

PORTSMOUTH

Angry over recent threats and accusations, the City Council took steps Tuesday to prepare for the shuttering of Sheriff Bill Watson’s popular neighborhood enforcement squad. 

The move  probably means the death of the Neighborhood Enforcement Unit, a seven-member squad of deputies that Watson created more than two years ago, to the praise of many residents. It patrolled neighborhoods and helped police make drug arrests, among other things.

For weeks, Watson has vocally criticized City Manager Kenneth Chandler for not signing a revenue-sharing agreement for the federal inmates held at the city jail. The sheriff said the impasse would prevent him from signing a lucrative contract with the U.S. Marshals Service to hold more inmates.

After hearing from Watson again Tuesday, Councilwoman Elizabeth Psimas read a prepared statement: The sheriff “has badgered all of us publicly in this chamber and out in the community for nearly a year,” she said. “He has made absurd accusations about us stealing his money and about lying, and I have frankly had enough.”

Psimas said she has been a longtime supporter of Watson and his Community Enforcement Unit. But last year, when the sheriff ran for re-election, he visited civic leagues and “basically sold every one of us at this table down the river, from the manager to the mayor to every one of my colleagues.”

Now Watson threatens to pull a unit or service every time he gets upset, she said, and “we cannot run an efficient government if a member of the team wants to pack up their marbles and go home every time they get angry.”

Late last year, Watson suggested he may have to give up some security duties at the courthouse due to funding cuts, a move he later backed off on.

Psimas recommended that the council fund the sheriff for only the duties required by the state: civil process, jail operations and court security.

“If we stick to the formula, we know what game we’re playing,” she said.

She suggested the city divert about $1 million to the Police Department to take over the processing of inmates at the jail, a duty currently handled by 18 deputies. At the same time, the city could give the police extra funding to expand its Neighborhood Impact Officer program.

Vice Mayor Bill Moody, with the support of council, directed Chandler to develop a contingency plan to expand the Police Department’s neighborhood policing program “in light of the sheriff’s threats.”

“I never threatened anybody,” Watson said after the meeting.

He said he will now no longer pursue the contract for federal inmates. “I cannot believe they turned this money down,” he said. “They screwed themselves.”

When asked about the status of his Community Enforcement Unit, he said, “as of right now, they’re out of business.”

Watson wanted an agreement to fully fund the community unit with revenue from the federal contract. He proposed to split the remainder – after a cut that the state takes – with the city.

He said that could amount to about $800,000 each to his department and the city. Watson said he wanted to use his share to give bonuses to his deputies, purchase equipment, and fund youth activities and a senior citizen program.

Council members said they hate to see the community unit die but that difficult budget constraints face the city. Councilman Steve Heretick said the sheriff’s office is a law enforcement agency, not a “private police department” or a social service agency that serves senior citizens or youths.

“We have departments that do that,” he said.

On Feb. 12, Chandler sent a letter to Watson telling him that a decline in federal inmates at the city jail had resulted in the Community Enforcement Unit running at deficit of $147,000, beyond the city’s commitment of $475,000 to fund the unit.

Lt. Lee Cherry, the unit’s commander, said that funding gap was closing and on pace to almost right itself by the end of the fiscal year. Psimas, however, said the deficit had grown to $175,000 as of Friday.

At a finance committee meeting last week, Watson told members that he was “tired of being lied to and backstabbed” by Chandler, who was not at the meeting.

Dave Forster, (757) 446-2627, dave.forster@pilotonline.com