Carley Sigley
Gregory Turner
27 October 2017
Doing my interview essay, I came to an understanding that my focus of my questions led me to a broader stance on the impact of the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department. My interview was with the Tulare County Sheriff, Mike Boudreaux. Mike has been the sheriff for 8 years and has brought many new abilities to the organization and to the community.
When interviewing I asked, “Did anyone push you into this career or was it a self-willing act?” His response was “I have wanted to be within this career since I was a small child, my dad heavily influenced me because he was in law enforcement.” (Boudreaux.) Mike said that being in law enforcement was a huge passion of his but most importantly he has a love for the department and community. While on the topic of the community I asked, “In a rural place like Tulare County, what are the biggest problems and how do you plan on fixing them?” His response was, “Fixing something implies that something is broken. I don’t see our community as broken but rather as an ongoing growing community of good people working to make their community a good place for people to live. There are always issues and problems but never brokenness in the community if that makes sense. There is always going to be people that slip through the cracks no matter how hard we try to prevent crime. But we do our best to keep it from happening. ” (Boudreaux.) Mike has cracked down on many cases that have benefited Tulare County and made our community safer. Dealing with more of the higher profile cases, I questioned what some of them were and how it affects our community. He didn’t go into specific detail so I went researching for more of the specifics.
The biggest connection between the Sheriff’s department and the community is that their relationship is actually very good. As Assistant Sheriff Tom Sigley described, “the people we deal with on our end are more of the lower-income families, so we respond to everything they call in about. Whether it be a snake in the garage, broken pipe, or their kids don’t want to get up for school, we respond.” The community is made up of 64% Hispanics, and the rest white or other. Sheriff’s department is huge on helping our agricultural people and our lower income families. They do their best to guide them out of criminal activity or provide what they can for these families. The biggest thing that the sheriff’s department has yet to see is the misconception of cops or anyone in uniform. The community is very well close to the Sheriff’s and the support is very high.
As for the concerns or higher profile situations they have faced, one I have come across is the human trafficking problem they had earlier this year. Operation Baby Face was the name of this sex trafficking investigation. The four phases started off with the first, which was a sheriff’s deputy posed as a 16 year old on the internet and attracted about 13 men. The intial case was of complaints or suspicions of the Dream Girls in Visalia and Fresno, however this phase 2 of the operation was not connected. All of the 13 men who solicited and met up with the undercover at her house were booked on charges. “All of the men that agreed to meet up with her knew she was 16.” (Boudreaux) Phase 3 of this investigation consisted of 70 deputies going to 137 sex offenders houses to make sure they were where they were supposed to be and not decorating for Halloween to attract any children to their homes. An additional 3 men were arrested in a sting operation in phase 3 as well. 10 sex offenders were in violations of their rules and were issued warrants for their arrest. (Public and Relations Unit). Over 70 deputies were involved in this Operation Baby Face that worked tirelessly to keep the children of Tulare County safe. Over 50 teenagers were being sexually exploited in this case. (Romero, VTD) . Another major problem is the amount of “wannabe” gangs in Tulare County. With gang related murders, shootings, and robberies, it’s a high problem that they deal with in the county. About 38% of all homicides in Tulare County are gang related, it’s a very serious issue that has been decreasing tremendously over the years. (Employee and Public Relations Unit.) According to assistant sheriff Sigley, the use of marijuana and growing it is another problem in the community. “Just because California legalized it, does not mean there are not ordinances within the county that must be followed.” (Sigley.)
As for technology and advancements that the department has come up with is phenomenal. On the Tulare County Sheriff’s news website, they have come up with “Drone Response Unit” which is basically for patrol to benefit them from so many man hours and safety. How this works is each deputy is issued a drone that works almost like a K-9. If a suspect is to run into an orange grove, they release the drone which has infra-red cameras, speakers, and lights to track from above. It’s also used on search and rescue missions to find lost victims. (Employee and Public Relations Unit.) Another advancement is mobile fingerprint scanners, which is used to scan someone’s fingerprint right then and there rather than taking them all the way to the jail. Sheriff’s department also released body issued cameras to every deputy, every patrol car, and every Taser. According to Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, they are currently working on developing cameras considered for “safe streets” which is a camera set around certain areas of the community for people who plan on doing first time meets. For example someone buying something online such as craigslist or Facebook, they can meet in the safe zone and the cameras will catch the incident.
The Tulare County Sheriff’s department is an organization evolved around helping our community and really listening to what our people have to say. With Sheriff Boudreaux in charge, this crime rate has decreased and more advancements are being placed in the department to be a step ahead of the suspects. The connection with our sheriff’s department and the community is easily one of the strongest’s if not the strongest. It is never a one man job, the ideas, the high work ethic, the intelligent trails for the new generations to follow to protect our people starts from the generations before us, it builds each and every day. (Boudreaux).
Works Cited
Boudreaux, Mike. Tulare County Sheriff’s Department
Sigley, Tom. Tulare County Sheriff’s Department
Employee and Public Relations, Tulare County Sheriff’s Department, http://tularecounty.ca.gov/sheriff/
Romero, Shyanne. Visalia Times Delta