I am writing this letter in response to a statement made by judicial candidate Don Anderson at the Middletown Area Town Hall debate on Oct. 11.

Anderson stated that he joined the Lake County Sheriff’ Department at a young age.

Anderson said “that in the early years working in the sheriff’s office he was kind of a rebel.”

He further stated that, “Back then, Middletown was a place nobody wanted to be in. Whenever I did something to upset my administrator, I was sent to Middletown as a punishment.”

It was reported that he joked that every time his superiors would ask him how things were going, he would ask if he could come home to Lakeport.

In all my years with the sheriff’s department, 36, retiring as a chief deputy, I never knew the department to use beat assignments as a form of discipline.

I was the patrol commander for a number of years. Discipline procedures by the department utilized a standard form of law enforcement discipline ranging from oral reprimands to
Termination.

Such a practice as putting an officer in a specific area for discipline would certainly lead to poor performance by the assigned officer.

I am upset that Mr. Anderson would characterize the sheriff’s office as using a location in our county as a discipline measure.

The department philosophy was and still is that all citizens of Lake County deserve to be respected and protected, irregardless of where they live.

Jeffrey B.Markham retired as a chief deputy from the Lake County Sheriff’s Department. He lives in Lakeport, Calif.