Leaders in the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office continue to evaluate the impacts of body-worn cameras used by deputies in the county’s detention facility.
“We are getting feedback for the unintended consequences,” Chief Deputy Sheriff Juan Gelabert said at a Sept. 28 discussion with members of the Arlington NAACP.
The Sheriff’s Office began using Axon-branded body cameras in April. Deputies in the field already had been using them.
The cameras deliver “accountability on all counts” and have provided a deterrence factor when there are disturbances in the correctional facility, said Gelabert.
“This is a tool to help us all,” he told NAACP members.
At the meeting, Gelabert and Sheriff Jose Quiroz discussed the discrepancy in starting pay between county sheriff’s deputies and police officers.
New recruits to the Arlington County Police Department earn a starting pay of $90,000, rising to $103,000 if they come with previous law-enforcement experience. It is the highest starting pay among Northern Virginia localities.
Sheriff’s deputies, by contrast, start at $67,000 — $47,000 in state pay plus $20,000 added locally.
Acknowledging that police and sheriff’s personnel perform different duties in Arlington, Quiroz said the disparity has proved problematic in his recruitment efforts.
“It’s a big challenge for us,” he said.
“We don’t lose people to other jails; we typically lose people to police departments,” said Gelabert, who, like Quiroz, grew up in the community.
Unlike local police departments, which in Virginia can now engage in collective-bargaining activities, sheriff’s deputies are considered state employees and are banned from union activities.
At the Sept. 28 forum, Camille Watkin, the Community Readiness Unit and Re-entry Program manager for the sheriff’s office, detailed changes in how the agency prepares detainees for release.
“Re-entry begins the day of custody,” she said, with efforts aimed at “creating a culture of readiness.”
Watkin said changes to re-entry efforts are evolving over time.
“We’re starting in increments, meeting people where they are and bringing them to where they need to be,” she said.
The goal is to have those incarcerated leave with “purpose, accountability and hope,” she said.
The presentation, held as part of the Arlington NAACP’s monthly meeting, drew praise from some of the 40-plus in attendance online.
Nicola Smithers called it an “excellent, informative, compelling presentation.”
