Happy Leap Day!<\/p>\n
When you spend time with the Corrections deputies in the Jail, you hear them use the word \u201cfamily\u201d quite a bit.\u00a0 During my recent visit it was obvious they mean it.<\/p>\n
You know that feeling in your family that you are happy to pick on each other, but heaven help the person that messes with your sister or brother?\u00a0 That was definitely the feeling I got as I toured the Main and Old jails this week.\u00a0 And, you can imagine why.\u00a0 It\u2019s critical in their unique work environment that the Corrections \u201cfamily\u201d have the back of their fellow deputies.<\/p>\n
I met many amazing people on my tour.\u00a0 Two deputies at opposite ends of their tenure with the team stood out to me.<\/p>\n
Nathan Cote is a new deputy with the Sheriff\u2019s Department.\u00a0 He is one of several veterans on the team. He served as a torpedoman in the Navy \u2013 and if you saw how tall he is you would share my amusement at the thought of him walking through the confines of a submarine!<\/p>\n
Deputy Cote told me that he joined the Corrections group after leaving the Navy as a way to prepare him for what he thought would be a career \u201con the street\u201d with patrol. However, he has now come to see Corrections as his career. He likes the challenge of managing the inmates and has learned to live with being in a \u201cfishbowl.\u201d While he watches 24 inmates, they all watch him too! Working out of the elements is also a plus for him. And while everyone in the Sheriff\u2019s Department works with constant threats, he faces different dangers than those on patrol.<\/p>\n
Another impressive member of the team was Deputy Deneen Dixon, a 24-year veteran of the Sheriff\u2019s Department.\u00a0 She came to us after service in the Army with the Military Police.\u00a0 Her military service included time working the \u201cbrig\u201d (my Navy terminology \u2013 not hers), so she had a very good idea what Corrections would be like.\u00a0 Deputy Dixon\u2019s smile radiated her positive attitude, but there was also a \u201cdon\u2019t mess with me\u201d vibe that I noted in most of our deputies.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Connie Ladenburg has produced a series of videos highlighting women leaders in Pierce County to celebrate the 100th<\/sup> Anniversary of women\u2019s right to vote.\u00a0 She rightly included our own Chief Jackson in her series. In the video you will hear the Chief talk about her role in managing the \u201ccity\u201d that is the jail.<\/p>\n