TV reports unfair to county

By Don Leonard
Sandoval County Commission Chairman

For many of us, the holidays really are the “most wonderful time of the year.” For employees in law enforcement, and especially the county detention center, the period between now and year’s end may be the most difficult time. 

County residents and taxpayers are the beneficiaries of the exceptional jobs being performed by the detention center’s 123 employees. Director Jerry Paszkiewicz has an exemplary career in law enforcement spanning more than 30 years, including 18 years as head of Sandoval County’s nationally-recognized detention center.

Jerry and his team have shaped the center into a model of security and efficiency. Training of the center’s employees has honed the staff for vigilant – and yet humane – treatment of inmates, some of whom are being held for the most horrendous of crimes. 

The successes of the Sandoval County Detention Center have been well documented time and again.  Among the many accolades in Jerry’s scrapbook is a week-long, page-one series of in-depth stories by the Albuquerque Journal into the problems of jails statewide. That series concluded with the headline, “Sandoval County Found a Fix.” 

Center employees know the holiday statistics far too well. While many of us are enjoying the holidays with family and friends, detention center employees will be extra-watchful for increased numbers of assaults and suicide attempts brought about by spikes in depression, anxiety and loneliness among inmates.   

For their diligence, professionalism and sense of duty, we owe Jerry, his management team and all of our detention center employees our deepest appreciation. They know and perform their very difficult jobs exceptionally well.

That’s why, for me at least, I was especially dismayed by two separate so-called investigative news reports by KRQE TV’s Larry Barker that recently aired on back-to-back Mondays. 

We’ve all seen the camera-in-the face, jump-from-the-bushes interviews and sharp retorts that are Mr. Barker’s trademark attempts to boost stories that may or may not be factual. Until now, however, I had not experienced his deliberate omission of facts when they failed to justify his preconceived notions.

A story in early November looked at a minor, non-injury traffic accident in Rio Rancho involving a 28-year veteran detention officer who was driving a center vehicle. While our attorneys urged us not to comment on specifics of the accident, we did provide Mr. Barker with extensive information regarding the incident.  We cited specific portions of State law that delineate the authorizing of emergency vehicles.  We even gave details on the training of detention center officers and the center’s operating procedures, other than those portions that would have compromised center security. Yet, his TV show portrayed the action as being somehow illegal, unjustified and almost as a “whim” by the officer, and that Sandoval County refused to discuss the matter.

Mr. Barker’s second story involved the termination of a center probationary employee after just four months. While we are prohibited from releasing specific details from personnel files, Mr. Barker failed to consider any of the information we were allowed to provide. He would not stray from his misconceived idea that the employee was fired solely for acting as a “good Samaritan” during an incident in Albuquerque. That premise, as Mr. Barker was quite aware, is simply not the case. 

For both stories, county staff repeatedly gave Mr. Barker complete assistance and all information possible. I and other county employees offered to go on-camera with Mr. Barker, recognizing there were specific aspects of the accident and our personnel files that we were barred from discussing. 

Had he been willing to forego his preconceived storylines and give unbiased review of the facts, he, too, would be joining the commission in wishing the very best for the holiday season to our detention center employees - especially those who will be working in very difficult conditions while the rest of us are enjoying time with family and friends. 

Questions or comments for Commissioner Leonard can be mailed to him in care of Sandoval County Administrative Offices, P.O. Box 40, Bernalillo, N.M., 87004.