Sheriff pair answer queries

BROOKINGS — The two Republican candidates for Brookings County Sheriff participated in a town hall meeting Monday night at the United Church of Christ. In front of a crowd of around 50 people, David Biteler and Shawn Hostler took questions from a moderator and the audience in an event sponsored by Brookings Area Indivisible and Community Law Enforcement Action Response.

The pair answered questions for nearly 75 minutes, each highlighting a strong resume of law enforcement experience and discussing specific community concerns.

Both candidates have experience in the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office, and both worked for Sheriff Marty Stanwick, who is stepping aside after 28 years in the position.

Hostler put forth his experience as a County Commissioner for the last four years, as well as his experience as a small business owner in Brookings, proposing a CEO-model of leadership in the sheriff’s office. Biteler returned to his diversity of experience — not just with the Sheriff’s office, but also the police department, Army National Guard and in the County Detention Center — while envisioning a “lead from the front” approach to the top county law enforcement chair.

The pair largely agreed on the biggest challenges facing county law enforcement — with drug and alcohol crimes topping the enforcement list and decreasing community support and retaining staff on the management side.

Sheriff Stanwick was in attendance during the question and answer session, as was Manny Langsraat, the independent candidate who will face the winner of the June 2 primary in the general election in November.

Perhaps most notably, both candidates answered in the negative when asked if they would want the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office to join a federal program that would effectively deputize them as Immigrations & Customs Enforcement agents for the purposes of programs like Operation Prairie Thunder.

“The sheriff’s role, really, in operating the jail is, if somebody’s brought in for detention, legal detention, either pretrial or if their sentence, they serve that time,” Hostler said in response to a question from Lawrence Novotny. “If ICE were to come in into the community they would need to have their officers perform whatever they needed to do. The sheriff’s office, under my control, or my leadership would not help participate in any, anything like that, unless it was simply behind the scenes — maybe help transport, or to house individuals if, they’ve been arrested or detained.”

Biteler explained the federal program that other law enforcement agencies in the state are operating jointly with federal agents on and described himself and Sheriff Stanwick evaluatingt it when it debuted in the late 1990s, when they decided it was not a good fit for Brookings. He stood by that opinion now.

“This was a program that the federal government would give local agencies the powers, deputize them, if you will, to help them do their job with immigration,” Biteler explained.

“Brookings County would spend too much money training our deputies or officers with the police department, also, and we didn’t get anything out of it, we were under their control, and the jail portion of it was more or less doing their job for them, and again we would not get any any financial support with it.”

Both candidates stressed community outreach and communications as key to the next Sheriff’s success. Biteler mentioned returning to department liaisons to different community groups, a strategy that has been successful in the past. Hostler noted the growth in the county schools — Sioux Valley, Deubrook and Elkton — where the Sheriff’s Office places a deputy as a school resource officer and proposed adding another deputy to that roster.

In response to an audience question about building rapport with marginalized communities, Hostler said:

“It’s really about trust — building consistency and education, and making sure that it doesn’t matter who you are. that you can build that trust with our law enforcement, because at the end of the day, law enforcement is just another member of our community that wears a uniform and has a job to do, just like anybody. I believe the deputies need to be active in our communities, and that will put a human spin on who we are. We don’t want our law enforcement to walk around or drive around with their windows up thinking that they’re any better or any worse than any one of us in the community.”

Biteler agreed, noting that building those relationships would always be necessary work.

“We need to be involved in the groups, we need to get educated, we need to find out what the needs are of different groups and communities around the town,” Biteler said. “We need to work at helping them feel comfortable and included — everybody gets an education, and it helps us move forward, having a long term commitment. It’s not just short term, it’s going to take a long time to get get back to where we need with that, and there is no quick fix with it there, but getting involved with them and strengthening that trust, building that credibility makes everyone more invited to come to the table and bring up concerns.”

The candidates also fielded questions about the former prison library at BCDC — it shut down during COVID but the prisoners have access to a book cart — and flock cameras — the county currently doesn’t operate any, but the city police department does and the deputies sometimes catch calls based on license plate reader software.

The pair also walked the audience through a couple different questions about use of force, stressing that deputies are trained extensively in local standards that meet state and federal guidelines.

“I will say it again,” Hostler said, “It’s that community trust. It is getting our deputies out of the car, it’s making them be present in the community, letting the community know that those guys in those smart cars that they see with lights and sirens aren’t the bad guys, they aren’t the big scary people.”

Biteler concurred, and added that he thought technology was becoming a problem with regard to communications.

“I agree, being present, that’s the key. We’ve also become, I guess, I must say, complacent. I will say technology is is standing in the way of us with that, making that interpersonal relationship with the communities. We can post things on Facebook and get information out there … we want that information to go to, but we need to get back to driving to that town, driving to that group, getting out there and saying, hey, I wanted to let you know about this. People are going to remember that more than, oh, hey, did you catch that on Facebook?”

Both also agreed that deputies — and law enforcement in general — need more training on intervening during mental health incidents, discussing different potential ways to provide the funding.

The final question of the evening was this: “You both appear to have the experience and the temperament to hold this office. In fact, you have agreed on a number of the issues tonight. So, without being negative, how will you distinguish yourself from your opponent?”

Hostler noted his 16 years of law enforcement experience — 14 in Brookings County — as well as his experience managing the county’s entire budget and personnel.

“I have the knowledge and experience of leading the entire Brookings County when it comes to budgets and managing personalities and really guiding Brookings County into the future, that is what really sets me apart.”

Biteler again highlighted his depth of diverse experience, including city, county and corrections jobs where he was frequently promoted.

“Again, for me, diversity working at the at the police department on the with being in town and going to the community role as law enforcement and then over into the county — starting out at the bottom and and working my way up. And one thing I will say unti I go to my grave, is at law enforcement training academy we need to teach or have law enforcement candidates go through corrections based training and have them learn, it’s not just the jail isn’t just a dump and run, and you’re done with your offender. Get to learn the inner workings of the jail itself. You have some form of appreciation for what the correction side of that jail does, working up through the many roles that I’ve had.”

Early voting is ongoing for the Republican primary, including the Sheriff’s race, with election day set for June 2.

Indivisible plans another forum for the winner of the primary and the independent candidate Langstraat in the fall.

Linehan is the Beacon’s managing editor and welcomes story tips and comments at BrookingsBeacon@gmail.com