Orange County Sheriff
Wears Lots of Hats
By Cornelia Cesari

If I believed everything I saw on television, I would think the life of a rural county sheriff is mostly about eating donuts, chasing stray dogs and writing speeding tickets. I would be greatly mistaken. It’s more akin to a combination of being a police officer, personnel supervisor, grantwriter, and business manager.

Orange County Sheriff Bill Bohnyak doesn’t fit the television stereotype of a tough cop, either. He is thoughtful and soft-spoken, sensitive and empathetic. He considers his work to be service to the people of our communities, not control over them.

"I see my job as a balance," explained Bohnyak in a recent interview, "between running the department, generating revenue, and providing quality enforcement—and more."

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has just two full-time officers: Bohnyak and Chief Deputy Captain Michael Welch. Additionally, there is always a court officer on duty at the courthouse; this position is filled by one of the 28 part-time deputies.

Having so many deputies has its challenges, since Bohnyak is responsible for each one’s safety and is also accountable for each one’s conduct; but it also provides an interesting variety of skills. Many of the deputies are former officers, but there is also a large animal vet and an employee of the Agency of Natural Resources.

Each part-time deputy must complete a one-week, 55-hour course at the Vermont Police Academy, take 60 hours of elected classroom work (e.g., control and restraint, DUI, domestic violence, etc.), and participate in at least 60 hours "FTO" time (with a Field Training Officer).

The Department also has eight administrative employees.

Generating Revenue

About one penny per every $100 of Orange County citizens’ property tax dollars go to county funds to support day-to-day operations of the Sheriff’s Department and maintenance of the building. It does not pay for any law enforcement officers’ services.

Law enforcement is funded by town contracts. The largest is Williamstown’s, which is about $40,000 for 32 hours a week. (This comes out to about $25/hour for officer and vehicle). Washington chooses to spend $2500, which pays for 2-3 hours a week.

Last year, Chelsea’s contract was for $4,000, but the selectboard also asked that the OCSD answer all calls. The funds were spent by August, so Bohnyak approached the selectboard and it appropriated an additional $2,500 to finish out the year.

Six of Orange County’s 17 towns do not have a contract with the OCSD. Nonetheless, Bohnyak says, "If we get an urgent call, and we have someone available, we’ll go. We just have to eat the cost." He has a "back-up" budget of $10-12,000 a year.

The sheriff also contracts with VAST and local snowmobile clubs. The OCSD receives about $2500 from VAST, to patrol the 500 miles of trails in Orange County. The goal is safety: the officers are primarily concerned with safe snowmobiling, to "educate and encourage compliance."

Other funding comes from grants written by Bohnyak. In the past three years, the department’s funding through the Governor’s Highway Safety grants has risen from $10,000 a year to $50,000. These include the SHARP (Safe Highway Accident Reduction Program) grants, now written by Lt. David Eggum. About 60 hours of that DUI time is being spent in Chelsea this year at no cost to the town. Other towns, even those without contracts, have benefited in the same way.

The START grant to reduce underage drinking, written by the Orange Count Court Diversion Program, brings in about $5,000, mostly for personnel and mileage reimbursement.

Traffic and speeding tickets, contrary to movie portrayals, do not generate revenue for the sheriff. For a local ordinance (or a speeding ticket when the speed limit is less than 40 MPH), 80% of the fine goes to the town, 20% to the judicial bureau. For state citations, 100% goes to the state general fund. Bohnyak estimates that half the department’s traffic stops result in warnings, the other half in tickets.

Law Enforcement

Sheriff Bohnyak’s preference is to deter criminal behavior before it occurs by maintaining a visible police presence. Still, the OCSD handles four to five times the number of incidents as the Vermont State Police in Chelsea. Many, Bohnyak recounts, are vandalism or unlawful mischief; they also receive calls in the evening reporting suspicious activity. Increasingly, though, the sheriffs are called for service related to drug activity: burglaries and drug-related assaults. They’ve seen possession of marijuana, crack cocaine, heroine and oxycontin in Orange County.

DUI charges are also on the rise—more than 50 so far this year compared to 18 for all of 2006—but that is due, in part, to increased enforcement.

The six cells at the OCSD, which can hold two prisoners each, are temporary holding facilities and are used nights and weekends, for those charged and awaiting arraignment, or those being transported to or from court. The sheriff’s captain’s primary responsibility is to move the state’s prisoners, usually from the correctional facility in Springfield to Orange County Courthouse. He transports 2-10 prisoners a week.

There is always someone at the sheriff’s office; a duty clerk answers the phone around the clock. Because the Vermont State Police barracks in Royalton are unmanned from 2-8 a.m., 9-1-1 calls are likely to be routed back to Chelsea during these hours, and the duty clerk will call Bohnyak or a deputy to respond.

Bohnyak recognizes that an emegency in the middle of the night will not likely elicit an immediate response time in a county with 692 square miles, spread over three ridges, and he encourages vigilance. He encourages the citizens of Orange County to be "prepared, but not paranoid."

Recognizing that 80% of households in Vermont have firearms, he urges education. For each of the last three years, he’s taught a women’s handgun safety class, sponsored by the Randolph Fish & Game Club, with as many as 17 participants.

Bohnyak is working to provide even more comprehensive coverage in Orange County and has been discussing options with selectboards and citizens. One idea is for three or four towns to share the cost of hiring the OCSD to cover their area. State Police are covering the interstate and handling a rising number of the most serious crimes, and they are suggesting to lawmakers that towns should hire their own police forces or their county sheriffs.

Warm and Fuzzy, Too

In addition to being law enforcers, Bohnyak sees his department in a social service role. For instance, deputies help supervise visitations and provide a safe space for custody transfers. There is even a "warm and fuzzy room" at the department, where young children who are victims of alleged sexual abuse or domestic assault can be interviewed by DCF (Department of Children & Families) investigators or law enforcement.

Nika Graci of Safeline praises the department’s work in this area.

"The Orange County Sheriff's Department is an excellent example of how a law enforcement agency can partner with its local domestic violence program to create a coordinated community response. Sheriff Bill Bohnyak has not only been one of Safeline's most dedicated supporters, but also a champion for victims of domestic violence," she said.

The OCSD also keeps a supply of winter coats and other warm clothing available, as well as ski poles to assist those with difficulty walking. It has participated in Project Childsafe for the past three years, distributing 6,000 free gun locks in Orange County.

Other forms of community service by the department include two DARE instructors in five schools, and Chelsea School’s Resource Officer, Tracy Simon.

Bohnyak’s hours are seldom limited to the traditional eight-hour day. In fact, when asked his favorite time to work, he responded quickly, "At night."

"You have an opportunity to deal with different people than during the day, people who are, maybe, looking for guidance," he explained. "Someone to talk to and be real."

Anyone can make mistakes or be misguided in life, he reflected.

"We try to correct and educate them. We try to intervene by talking with them, or maybe they need an invitation to court, but we try to treat them as you’d want to be treated and they respect that. I try to build a level of mutual trust."

Add that to the list of hats our county sheriff wears: counselor.