Excerpts from the Sheriff’s Department Facebook page:
“Tune in to ‘Cop Talk’ every Monday morning at 8:45 am on KPOD. Every week either Chief Wallace from Brookings Police Department or Sheriff Erik Apperson from Del Norte County will be present to speak about public safey issues. Feel free to visit the KPOD website to make suggestions for future topics.”
Here are some suggestions from the public that we’d like to see Sheriff Apperson address:
On the Dave Egan (BlackHawk Pistol Story):
1. Does anyone in the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Department know where the actual BlackHawk Pistol is?
2. Do all deputies currently wear camera’s? If not, when will they?
3. Why is it seemingly impossible to get the video from the raid on Egan’s place?
4. Since former Detective Bob Barber quit the Sheriff’s Department once Apperson was elected, and he’s the one responsible for the illegal raid of Egan; is anyone keeping tabs on him?
5. Will anyone from the Sheriff’s Department apologize to Egan for the nighmare they put him through?
6. Now that Steve Morris retired and Barber is gone; is anyone in the Sheriff’s Department looking into the activities of some of the remaining alleged rogue deputies: Tim Athey; Richard Griffin; Ed Fleshman, Justin Gill and Bill Stevens?
On the Fred Hansen alleged illegal search:
1. Why did Commander Tim Athey pick up Hansen without calling first?
2. Why did Com. Athey take Hansen into the “interview or interrogation room” without Donna Westfall’s presence when Hansen clearly asked for her to be present and she was waiting in the Sheriff’s Department to be called in to the meeting?
3. Did Com. Athey intimidate Hansen into signing a retraction of his original complaint?
4. Is this the way Sheriff Apperson wants his Sheriff’s Department to run?
5. Who can access the duty roster to find out the name of the other officer with Det. Richard Griffin that January 16th that searched Hansen’s apartment?
6. Is this Sheriff’s Department going to continue to operate with secrecy or try to operate with transparency?
On the resisting arrest issue (Alice Jones Case)
1. How many arrests have been made in the last year due to “resisting arrest.”
2. What are the statistics on those arrests? How many were made to pay fines and/or go to jail?
3. What is the bottom line to taxpayers? Is it making the Sheriff’s Department money, making the County money or is it costing more than it’s making?
4. What is it costing the person that was arrested?
5. How many of those resisting arrest cases are locals versus out-of-towner’s?
Regarding the Blackhawk Pistol story,
The last commenter hit the nail on the head: I hope that the main culprits (Barber etc.) are being tracked. Just because they haven’t been charged with anything yet doesn’t mean they won’t.
Most of the facts in the case haven’t been reviewed.
Egan’s case probably changed enough minds to keep Wilson from being re-elected but that’s not enough to settle this case. What is also disconcerting is that even though Egan was a lifetime member of the NRA, they offered no assistance whatsoever in this case.
I really would like to see a formal apology to the man (Daniel Buchert) who was blasted on social media as being the suspect in the stolen car chase into the Smith River area. I don’t know the man, but I know first hand how horrible it is to be accused by the DN Sheriff’s Ofc of a crime that was never committed. I will NOT be seeking any remedy for what happened to me in the past because Dean Wilson finally did take the offending and erroneous information down and i see that Apperson’s department has not kept the old information on others up.
Relating to Dave Egans’ story, I still want answers as to how a man who committed no crime at all was allowed to be abused by DNSO for over 4 years, his basic rights violated many times over in the process of him seeking justice for what they did to him. I hope that under the new leadership, there will be some awesome changes, but people want to hear what the general plan is. Sheriff Apperson, the people would like a statement from you about how you wish to operate your department since you were voted in. Pending cases need to be resolved. Lets see that this year is a year of change up there in Del Norte County.
I lived up there a majority of my life, and it’s always the same names that control just about every part of that county and the people there. I finally leave Del Norte County and suddenly, from a distance I see miracles happening… bad cops finally leaving the force or demoted or forced to retire. It didn’t happen soon enough.
For those POS cops up there who made my life hell, i just want to say this: I don’t hate cops. I just hate bad cops who stomp on the basic rights of the people.
Of course, I will never be satisfied until those bad cops are held accountable for what they did to many people up there, including myself.