{"id":61415,"date":"2014-03-03T23:58:26","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T06:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/audio-gives-a-look-into-sheriffs-office\/"},"modified":"2014-03-04T06:58:26","modified_gmt":"2014-03-04T06:58:26","slug":"audio-gives-a-look-into-sheriffs-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/audio-gives-a-look-into-sheriffs-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Audio gives a look into sheriff\u2019s office"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Spruell\"
Spruell<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Audio recordings of Montezuma County Sheriff Dennis Spruell\u2019s staff meetings reveal a department that has faced problems of rumors and performance. They also provide a glimpse into the Montezuma County sheriff\u2019s management style.<\/p>\n

The Cortez Journal obtained a series of recordings made at squad and patrol meetings last summer. On June 25, 2013, Spruell posed the question, \u201cWhat are you supposed to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo make you look good,\u201d those in attendance replied in unison.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake me look good,\u201d Spruell reiterated.<\/p>\n

The recordings were released on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

Undersheriff Lynda Carter described the exchange as an \u201congoing joke\u201d between Spruell and his staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt lightens the mood in what can be a stressful job,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, the sheriff does refer to deputies making him look good; through good police work and fair, consistent interactions with the public,\u201d Carter said.\u201cHe always remarks that by doing their job the best they can, they will look good, and so will he.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an Aug. 1, 2013, meeting, Spruell tells staff that the agency started sliding in recent months, because his \u201cexpectations were low.\u201d He vowed to those in attendance that he was going to raise the bar and \u201cstart kicking some ass.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re starting rumors, stop,\u201d Spruell said. \u201cIf you\u2019re listening to rumors, stop. And if you\u2019re spreading rumors, come see me because I have a job for you, and it won\u2019t be with this agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter said that the department\u2019s written policy prohibits employees from spreading or starting rumors. She said such actions are unprofessional and conduct unbecoming of a law officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf rumors were repeated while on duty, it could appear that it is a remark or opinion of the department or the sheriff, and that is unacceptable,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n

Carter acknowledged that Spruell\u2019s comment of helping someone look for another job was true. She said that employees who continuously violate policy will be fired.<\/p>\n

At that same August meeting, which Carter described as a promotion ceremony, Spruell admonished his staff to stand united, instructing deputies that they should only be on \u201cone train.\u201d He warned staff that if they started leaning their heads too far out that train, then he\u2019d \u201ccut it off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGet on board or get out of the way,\u201d Spruell said.<\/p>\n

Since the August meeting, six deputies and five jailers retired, resigned or were fired, according to Montezuma County human resource records.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not discuss terminations of former employees, but no one was terminated because of any ultimatum,\u201d said Carter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can attest that since I have been here, no one has been terminated or asked to resign without a very good reason,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Carter also said that Spruell\u2019s administration has had fewer resignations, terminations or retirements than either of the two previous administrations. She said that former Sheriff Joey Chavez had 54 leave his agency in his first year of office, and former Sheriff Gerald Wallace had 65 leave during his tenure.<\/p>\n

The Cortez Journal could not verify Carter\u2019s claims or the numbers of those who resigned or were fired.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs sheriff, I want to try and retain personnel,\u201d Spruell recently posted on his Facebook page. \u201cThat\u2019s one of my priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Spruell, 39 of his employees have resigned or retired, and four were terminated during his inaugural term.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are an office of 74 people,\u201d Spruell said. \u201cThis is a fairly low turnover rate, just more than 10 per year.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to county human resource records, two deputies and nine jailers were released from the agency in 2012, and eight deputies and nine jailers were released in 2013. The sheriff\u2019s office recently denied a public records request from The Cortez Journal to examine employee performance evaluations and internal affairs reports.<\/p>\n

Last month, Spruell posted on his Facebook page that he sent an email to personnel in regard to sinking morale. In part, the email stated that he wanted to assure employees that the community would support them as long as they remained ethical and honest.<\/p>\n

\u201cContinue to remember, this is not us against them,\u201d the email stated. \u201cIt is us working with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rumors, performance, Spruell\u2019s style revealed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[13,52,237],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-61415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-law-enforcement","tag-montezuma-county-government"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61415"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=61415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}