‘We can best define you as a tyrant’: Sheriff Jerry Hatcher should resign | Editorial

We don’t see how Benton County Sheriff Jerry Hatcher can effectively lead when a majority of his employees see him as an oppressive dictator.

He should resign, for the good of his department and his community.

Failing that, Hatcher should — at the very least — allow an internal investigation into allegations he assaulted his estranged wife.

Hatcher vehemently denies the accusations, and the case eventually was dropped without prejudice — which means it could be refiled later. But the Benton County Deputy Sheriff’s Guild said this week that, “regardless of judicial outcome,” an internal investigation is still expected within the department under such circumstances.

Yet, Hatcher has refused to allow it.

His employees would not be able to escape such a process. Why should Hatcher get a pass?

This is an unacceptable double-standard, and one of many troubling issues that prompted a shocking move by the guild.

Calling him a “tyrant,” the union announced a vote of “no confidence” against Hatcher this week. The notice came in a devastating, two-page letter blasting the sheriff for his “dehumanizing” management methods.

Union members said they live in fear of intimidation and retaliation, and they told Hatcher in the letter that he cannot meet with any of them without a witness in the same room.

The claims are astonishing.

Law enforcement officers are typically a loyal bunch. They don’t often turn on one of their own, unless there is good reason.

Working conditions must be almost unbearable, or there would not have been so many employees willing to make such a strong, public statement against their boss.

Hatcher, though, said he was blindsided and disappointed by the letter and its accusations.

He told the Tri-City Herald he has reached out to the union’s five key board members and asked for a meeting, believing it is a “small nucleus of people within the sheriff’s office that feel this way.”

But Herald reporting has not shown that to be the case. No groups or individuals have come forward in recent months to defend or support him. Instead, different allegations have come at him from various directions.

Last year several female county employees outside the sheriff’s office filed formal complaints against Hatcher’s treatment of them, and he was under investigation for those complaints for nearly six months.

In October, four unions representing Benton County Sheriff’s Office employees called for Hatcher to resign when the now-dismissed criminal charges involving his estranged wife first surfaced.

The unions that had asked for Hatcher’s resignation included clerical staff, corrections officers and patrol deputies, corporals, sergeants and lieutenants.

And the allegations from the jail staff were cited by two county commissioners as a key reason for taking operation of the county jail away from the sheriff and creating a separate department. Since then, corrections staff have publicly said the jail is safer, and their work environment has improved since the takeover.

So many complaints from so many different employee groups show a disturbing pattern.

In its letter, the guild formally requested that Hatcher allow the internal investigation to proceed. The guild is also insisting that it be conducted by a third-party law enforcement agency to ensure transparency.

If Hatcher wants a chance at repairing his relationship with his staff, he should agree. He also should step aside while the investigation is underway.

We recommended Hatcher for the county sheriff when he ran in 2017. He was appointed to the position several months before the election, and we thought he was doing a fine job.

The people working closely with him are seeing something the public is not.

We are sorry to hear of so much strife from inside the department.

People who work in law enforcement face enough stress in the field. They should not have to also deal with it at the office.

As an elected official, Hatcher can be removed from his post only by voters in a recall election.

We hope it doesn’t come to that. An embroiled sheriff fighting to keep his job when others don’t want him there will make conditions worse for employees caught in the turmoil.

The rift is wide and the wounds are deep — likely, too deep for Hatcher to overcome at this point.

The best thing he can do is step down, and show he is willing to put the community’s interests above his own.