News

McDonald defends training center that opponents pan

Speakers line up to ask Sheriff McDonald questions about the law enforcement training center.

By Bill Moss, Published: March 27, 2017

Sheriff Charlie McDonald on Monday night faced a crowd of nearly 200 people, most of them opposed to a $20 million training center on the campus of Blue Ridge Community College, and made a case for upgraded training that he says is needed to keep the public and deputies safe.

Holding signs that said "No paramilitary Taj Mahal," "Taxpayer. Not an ATM" and "Not on BRCC campus," a roomful of county residents raised questions about the facility at BRCC. McDonald did his best to respond, and for the first time publicly distanced himself from the location and the cost.

"No. 1, how many people know that I never came and asked for a $20 million facility on Blue Ridge Community campus?" he said. "Never asked for it."

What he asked for, he said, was an outdoor facility with a shooting range and tactical training space. He recounted the county's two efforts to buy land for a shooting range, first at a former summer camp in the Bob's Creek area and then on top of Pinnacle Mountain "way way way away from everybody, we thought." After opponents filled the commissioners' meeting room twice, commissioners told McDonald to forget an outdoor range, saying: "The public won't support it. You're going to have to look inside."

"I told them to do it indoors would be very expensive," he said.

"I'm not married to where this place has to be," said McDonald, who was appointed sheriff in 2012, elected in 2014 and is already running his 2018 re-election campaign. "I'm not married to spending a whole lot of money. In fact right now, myself and my staff are looking at all kinds of ways to think out of the box and look at what we can to present to the commissioners something at a lower pricetag."

McDonald then read a long piece he had written earlier on the threat to the public and to deputies, negative media coverage of deadly force instances across the country, how military equipment at times has saved deputies' lives and protected the public, and how law officers train in dealing with mentally ill offenders and in conflict de-escalation.

McDonald then read questions and comments he had received and answered them:

"Sheriff needs to train deputies in less violent options. I think you see that we do."

"Plenty of ranges the sheriff could use locally. Actually, there are not."

"Why not expand the Justice Academy? We've looked at that. There's not enough room."

"The sheriff wants to create a police state. Promise you, I'm not interested."

"The sheriff's buying a 50-caliber machine gun for his Bearcat. Never crossed my mind. Got not use for one."

"Lead contamination in the area. A lot of the cost wherever that range is is because of the air scrubbing and the air handling and the lead reclamation. It's very safe for officers inside and it's certainly very very safe for those outside."

"The sheriff is trying to militarize his deputies. Certainly not true."

"And this training is a waste of time and taxpayers' money. I think most of you would agree that money well spent, that's probably not the case."

McDonald had the floor for 20 minutes before taking questions.

More than 20 people queued up to ask questions, most adversarial to the training center. They questioned the cost of the facility, the location next to the new Innovative High School, why the county did not pursue a regional facility and whether the county might find a better use for $20 million. Several current and retired public school teachers said they were alarmed that the county plans to build the facility at BRCC neat the new Innovative High School.

"This has no place at the BRCC campus," a retired teacher said.

McDonald said repeatedly that he did not choose the BRCC campus and didn't care if the facility was built there or somewhere else — a position that would be at odds with the community college administration and governing board, which have endorsed the center because it would benefit the college's Basic Law Enforcement Training program.

"I don't care where it is," McDonald said. "I just need the training facility."

Responding to a question about counties sharing the cost of a facility he said: "Law enforcement in this country is very fragmented. Everybody's kind of territorial."

Eva Ritchey told McDonald he had made a factual and emotional case for the training center but failed to explain why upgraded law enforcement training is not needed everywhere.

"If those facts and that emotion and the need is here then goodness knows it must be in Buncombe County because they've got a far greater number of crimes and racial problems than we do here," she said. "And that problem has got to exist in Haywood County, too... So if this need is really true and we need it then we don't just need it in Henderson County. ... We need it in Buncombe County and we need it in Haywood County and if they're as smart and dedicated and professional as you then we're going to be able to convince them that we need a district facility. I don't think a good case has been made for not having a district facility."

Several speakers also criticized McDonald's use of national crime statistics and references to terror threats without offering local statistics and examples.

“There’s a little bit of difference between what’s going on in, maybe in New York, and what’s going on in Henderson County," one speaker said. "I’m not diminishing what our team does here. My point is $20 million over the next five years. Why couldn’t we work with the state, with other counties and maybe have a pool? Maybe we need to have four different facilities throughout the state.”

"We have deputies injured on a regular basis," McDonald said. "I know people don't see it. It's frustrating to me. They think this is Mayberry. It's not."

Ritchey hit another common refrain — that $20 million would do more good spent on something else.

"Commissioners have told me for 20 years we could not afford nurses, which are so needed in our public schools, but they can afford this," she said.

A few speakers supported McDonald, who in an email had urged campaign supporters to show up at the meeting.

"People in this room have an agenda. They don't want it," said Joe Pirog. "And when you start matching money against security you're asking for a lot, a lot of trouble, beause when it does happen" the public will say, "Charlie, what did you do for us? You let that happen, and you will take the brunt."

A criminal justice student at BRCC said although he agreed with the need for the facility he was unimpressed with "the communication with the school people."

"I went around and asked people about the new facility and no one knew. No one," he said.

Rose Griffin, a U.S. Marine Corps reservist, said the public needs more specifics about the ongoing cost.

"I've been trained to inspect what I expect," she said. "And in this room Henderson County taxpayers are asking the same of you. That's their expectation. I think what could be helpful is if you could publish an itemized scope of work and the requirements of how much it will cost to run the facility, not just for the nest year but for the next five or 10 years, how many more trainers you're going to have to hire, if those trainers have to get other training, hw much is it going to cost to clean and maintain this building and the grounds. I think it could help put some of the worries if you could itemize such an account."

Andrew Walters also asked McDonald the operating budget for the facility. McDonald said he didn't know.

"How can you support a facility that you don't know the cost of operating?" Walters asked.

As for using the WNC Justice Academy for training, McDonald said his deputies don't get all the shooting range time they need because "they're sharing it with a hundred and something other agencies."

Pete Davis spoke in support of McDonald and said if voters have a problem with the project they should blame the county commissioners.

"I don't know if you guys need a civic lesson, but there are five guys that have the checkbook," he said. "If somebody can find a space for Charlie, let's get him a range outside and forget this $20 million inside thing."

"I voted for you," another speaker said. "I appreciate you. I am a little concerned about the overreach here. Our crime rate is low, we don't have lot of racial tension. Yes, ISIS is real but what I'm concerned about is we don't really have high value terrorist targets here in Henderson County."

Many times McDonald returned to his theme that training drives the need for a facility.

"You gotta remember, my training needs didn't change," he said. "What changed was the fact that we had to put those needs inside in an enclosed facility, not outside. That's where the cost came."

McDonald acknowledged later Monday night that felt he had changed few minds in "a crowd that was largely hostile."

"I certainly think we gave them all the information," he said. "Sorry they were disappointed but I'm glad we got it out there."

"f I could go back and do Flintlock today, there's a lot we could do there, for a lot less money," he said. "However, I don't want to imply that I'm ungrateful that the commissioners said that since we're not doing that we're at least going to see that your needs are met. I don't want to put words in their mouth but I suspect they felt like, 'Well, the taxpayers made the decision to spend more money going indoors so that's what we'll do.' I'm the client. They were convinced of the need. These people (on Monday night) were convinced of the need. They just don't like the cost."