After a tumultuous campaign season last year it seems that local law enforcement is in turmoil and disarray again, to an even greater degree.

There seem to be several recurring themes here, some of which were displayed in the recent public statement made by the local deputy sheriff's association, which has accused the new sheriff of having made three major mistakes at the helm of the LCSO.

The first of the alleged errors was to not inform the the city of Lakeport police and fire departments when there had been a bomb threat at the courthouse recently, a fair enough gripe except that since the police and fire departments were a mere two blocks away the genuine potential harm to public safety was minimal at best, it was mainly an issue of courtesy and protocol – not quite the spin the DSA put on it.

The second example the DSA complained about was the fact that the SWAT team was sent code three (lights and sirens) to stop the Hells Angels from coming into the county to allegedly confront another outlaw biker gang, the DSA thought that was too bold a response and was worried that the Hells

Angels civil rights may have been violated – probably the first time in history a law enforcement association has been to the left of the ACLU on defending the civil rights of outlaw biker gangs!

It seems doubtful many local citizens have a problem with some fast driving in this case, and it is surprising the DSA even thought this was worth mentioning let alone making a big deal out of.

The third issue the DSA had with the sheriff involved an incident in the city of Clearlake, where the DSA made the inaccurate claim that city police held members of the Lake County Narcotics task Force at gunpoint for several minutes as a result of the sheriff's decision to not notify the city police of their presence in the city.

The city police had seen the undercover LCNTF cars nearby, knew from dispatch that the call they were responding to (three men had taken another man hostage) involved “suspects” who were armed and had walkie- talkies and handcuffs, and the “victim” was well known to the city police due to numerous contacts resulting in nearly a dozen pending charges – so a call was wisely made to dispatch to see if the “suspects” might in fact be undercover cops.

The city police observed the home where the incident was believed to be taking place and after a few minutes sent an officer to the door to inform the people inside the police were there, the deputies inside opened the door and a bit rudely informed the city police who they were.

For the city police to approach the door in such a manner there must have been a high level of confidence in them that they were in no serious danger, as a situation where they were really up against an unknown number of people armed with who-knows-what would have called for far more caution to be exercised, like waiting for backup and securing the the perimeter along with evacuating the neighbors.

It was again a bit of bad protocol and poor courtesy shown to the Clearlake Police (by the direct order of the sheriff) not to tell the city police what was going on though it was also not the genuine threat to the lives of the officers involved as the DSA has asserted, based on the version of events coming from the Clearlake Police department.

So what's really going on here? We seem to have a number of people within the DSA who are upset about several things other than the three listed above, namely the facts that their candidate lost the last election, and that the new sheriff has been getting a lot of very favorable press due to a steady stream of meth busts that make the previous administration look anemic by comparison.

It could also be fueled by the fact that the sheriff has recently made scheduling changes that will probably save the county money on overtime pay, and the DSA wasn't happy about that as the losers in the plan were their members.

It is hard to say why the sheriff didn't get the Lakeport police and fire departments into the loop during the bomb threat there, but in the city of Clearlake there is a bad relationship between the sheriff and the chief that seems to be clouding the sheriff's judgment as there was no legitimate reason to not tell the city police that there was a LCNTF unit doing an undercover operation there – even when it was a rapidly evolving event as it was in this case.

We need a law enforcement system here that is comprised of cooperative law enforcement agencies, and one that doesn't let petty personal disputes interfere with the daily functions of the departments.

We don't need employees that sue their employer over frivolous and absurd disputes like the correctional officers have, and we don't need the DSA laying down a smoke screen about what really bothers them or acting out over the last election.

In other words it's time for all involved from the top to the bottom to act like the professionals we pay them to be, or to find another line of work.

Philip Murphy lives in Lakeport, Calif.