DANVILLE — The Montour County sheriff’s office wants to have its arrest powers restored as do sheriffs and deputy sheriffs across the state.
House Bill 466 is intended to do just that, so Montour County Sheriff Ray Gerringer plans to testify at a House Judiciary Committee meeting in Harrisburg.
Officials at the informational hearing, tentatively scheduled for Feb. 21, will discuss the legislation that would allow sheriffs and deputy sheriffs to participate in law enforcement activities, based on the needs of the communities in their counties.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court previously ruled that their powers and authority must be written down.
Mr. Gerringer plans to go to a rally on March 11 at the Capitol in Harrisburg.
Montour County commissioners Vice Chairman Jack Gerst hopes buses can take county residents to the rally, where thousands are expected to help drum up support for the bill. He is urging as many people as possible to contact him about going to the rally.
Mr. Gerst has discussed the possibility of having deputy sheriffs on duty in stations throughout the county where no municipal police departments are.
Mr. Gerringer said, “Local police and the commissioners have been very supportive.”
“I’ve had a lot of people contact me. With all the Supreme Court rulings, this is not a new issue,” he added.
In addition, the Anthony Township supervisors, at their work session Thursday, discussed preparing a letter in support of the sheriff’s effort. “We should support them in whatever arrest powers can be given sheriffs and deputy sheriffs,” supervisor Ray Bowen said.
“The (state) Supreme Court was asked to clarify sheriffs’ and deputy sheriffs’ powers five times in the last 15 years. The Supreme Court clearly told legislators they need to get it written into law. We receive the same training as municipal police officers. We undergo yearly education as they do,” the sheriff said.
The law was changed in 1994 to allow only the Allegheny County sheriff’s office to have the powers of the municipal and state police. “That is the only one written into statute law,” Mr. Gerringer said.
“The Supreme Court is now saying we can arrest if there is a breach of peace or felonies committed in our presence,” he said. “The bottom line would be if someone assaults a judge in his chambers and there is no deputy there, they’d have to call another police agency to handle the incident if it didn’t occur in our presence. That can mean a lot of added money not just for this county but for the 67 counties in the state.”
A February 2006 state Supreme Court ruling has raised confusion over what law enforcement duties sheriffs and deputy sheriffs can and cannot perform. According to the Pennsylvania Sheriffs Association, many sheriffs and deputy sheriffs worked side-by-side with municipal and state police, including serving on drug and driving-under-the-influence task forces, until that decision was made.
Mr. Gerringer said a number of newspapers have come out in support of sheriffs and deputies being allowed to use their powers to “take a bigger bite out of crime.” There are thousands of deputies in the state with guns, marked cars, badges and police training.
In the past, sheriffs’ and deputies’ duties were carried out in accordance with commonwealth powers dating back to the 1600s in England, but they were not in writing.
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