The county sheriff's office does not have the power to arrest people unless they see the crime committed. That is something sheriff Carl Gotwald Sr. would like to see changed.

By Matthew Steffy

Jefferson County Neighbors

BROOKVILLE — Jefferson County Sheriff Carl Gotwald Sr. does not understand some of the restrictions placed on his office, and he addressed the issue Thursday.

"They have us kind of in limbo right now," he said. "If somebody is in court and starts beating the judge in the head, we hear the alarm and we go upstairs. The judge is laying there in a pool of blood and the other man is standing there.

"We wouldn't be able to do anything because we have to visually see the crime committed. At that point, our only option would be to call the borough police."

Situations similar to the courtroom analogy do occur at the jail, Gotwald said, but the state police are called rather than the sheriff's office because the sheriff's office does not have police powers.

Gotwald is asking the Jefferson County Commissioners to change that. He noted that the office did have the powers of police from 1804 until three years ago.

"When somebody calls in and says there's a crime being committed, I think the deputy on duty should be able to make an arrest," Gotwald said.

Furthermore, Gotwald said all deputies received training nearly identical to borough and state police, and many Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies have served on police forces.

"We have 16 certified deputies," he said. "Half or more are retired state police officers. Three are municipal officers who work here during the day. They can't make an arrest from 8:30 (a.m.) to 4:30 (p.m.),  then they can go and put a different uniform on and make arrests all night long."

The county commissioners weighed in on the subject Thursday, and said it was something to be considered.

"I'm not saying I'm for or against it," commissioner Jeffrey Pisarcik said. "That would cost the county so much money that taxes would go up. Yes, all municipalities and townships would have law enforcement, but the cost of the sheriff's office policing every inch of this county would be astronomical."

Last year, townships were concerned because the state legislature had proposed a bill that would require townships and municipalities to pay a higher property tax to help fund the state police. The justification for the bill was that those areas were using the state police as its primary enforcement entity.

That bill has "been dropped for now," Pisarcik said. He noted, however, that "after elections that could change and be brought up again. We all know how elections can change things."

Allowing the sheriff's office police powers may eliminate the need to directly assist with funding for the state police, but property taxes may still have to be increased in that event.

"Even then, somebody is going to have to pay for it," commission Chairman Paul Corbin said. "It would be a county wide rise in property taxes, and we are just not in favor of that."

"It's not a bad idea," Pisarcik said. "But, that service comes at a cost. Can you afford that cost and do you want to."

Commissioner James McIntyre said granting police powers would also cause much higher insurance cost, saying, "Included in that is a tremendous increase in liability."

Gotwald does not necessary see a correlation between police powers and increased costs.

"We had the powers for a hundred years and the cost of this office didn't go up," he said, saying that was adjusted for inflation. "Those costs haven't gone down because police powers have been taken away."

According to Gotwald, establishing police powers does not mean the office will be expanded, because the county commissioner would still control the office's budget.

"You can't expand without money, and they control that," he said. "So, really, to cost the counties more money isn't true."