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WILMINGTON — A third candidate has announced a bid for the seat of Essex County sheriff.
Robert Kirby, 51, of Wilmington, a retired police officer with a degree in business management, is running, he said, as an independent conservative.
His campaign platform is founded on reform, a program Kirby says would shift the Essex County Sheriff's Department focus from corrections to law enforcement and better fiscal management.
"We've seen a sheriff's office spending money we don't need to be spending," Kirby said, criticizing a new Essex County Jail facility "three times larger than we really need.
"What we were sold on was that the jail was going to board inmates. The idea that part of our government should generate a profit from another part of our government is ludicrous. We are all taxpayers, and we are paying for everything — federal, state or local. We should not have gotten into the specific business of boarding inmates for other agencies rather than concentrating on our own actual needs."
Now that the new jail is built, he said, "we need to manage department costs aggressively. But Essex County sheriff's deputies and corrections officers are two different types of officers."
Kirby said deputies belong on patrol, not guarding inmates in jail.
It is up to a sheriff to hire deputies, he said, citing statutes that provide for one deputy for every 3,000 residents of a county.
"Essex County right now has 21 deputies and an undersheriff. He (Sheriff Henry Hommes) is entitled to 13."
Kirby said he is not suggesting a reduction in the sheriff's deputy force.
"But if we're going to have deputies, let's have a full-time road patrol."
Kirby believes that by utilizing a patrol effectively, costs for state and town police would be reduced.
"Why would a town or village want to have their own police? Because they are not getting the service they think they need from their sheriff. I think we need a full-time sheriff's patrol."
Recent incidents in Keeseville, he said, point to unmet public safety needs.
"In Keeseville, on the Essex County side, there have been many problems with vandalism and noise," Kirby said. "State Police do not handle that kind of incident. They have no full-time patrol for that. In the sheriff's (Hommes) defense, he was asked to provide a full-time foot patrol."
Without manpower for a foot patrol, Kirby said the sheriff's office could have opted to establish a part-time, focused patrol.
"People feel crime is going up. But what are the actual numbers? It is not on the Essex County Web site. The information is not provided to the public by the Sheriff's Department. But it should be."
The Sheriff's Department should take a lead role in public safety, he said.
"The sheriff's stated role is as conservator of the peace," Kirby said. "He is the only elected law-enforcement officer in the county."
Reforming the Sheriff's Department in Essex County, Kirby said, would involve implementing cost-effective law enforcement.
"The State Police have no help, and they are supposed to be helping other police agencies, not the other way around."
Just about every other sheriff in the state has a 24-hour patrol, Kirby said.
"It is a service we're already paying for."
Kirby also criticized Hommes for not being part of the STOP Domestic Violence task force.
"The district attorney and State Police voluntarily participate, but the sheriff's office does not."
Reform measures also add a communications component.
"As conservator of the peace, the sheriff is supposed to take a leadership role in emergency situations," Kirby said. "Many law-enforcement agencies respond to one scene and can include State Police, Department of Environmental Conservation officers, fire department personnel. It is important the effort is effectively coordinated."
Kirby said the Sheriff's Department could also provide an effective response to dwindling numbers of volunteer first responders.
As spelled out on his Web site, Kirby says deputies could be cross-trained as emergency medical technicians.
"It is likely that, at some point, every town and village will have to transition to fully paid emergency services, and doing so will be very expensive. An interim step could be to have patrol deputies certified as EMTs, not to replace our volunteers, only to supplement them as needed."
Kirby is a retired police officer from Florida.
He is married to Diane (Preston) Kirby, who is a Wilmington native. They have one son, Kyle.
He also serves as a volunteer emergency medical technician in Wilmington and resigned as elected town justice to run for sheriff.
Hommes is running for reelection and earned the Republican endorsement at the end of March.
Michael "Ike" Tyler, 50, from Westport and a 25-year veteran with the New York State Department of Correctional Services, plans to run in the Republican primary in September. Tyler has said he will run as an independent, whether or not he wins in the primary.
E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com
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