INSIDE

New deputy arrives in town

Blaine native Mike King chose to come to Point Roberts because he thought it would be a good place to bring his family. “It’s kind of unique up here,” he said.

King replaced deputy Jeff Turner on January 6 joining Ryan Monogue on the two-deputy team that live in Point Roberts and provide law enforcement service. King volunteered for the two-year assignment, which he can ask to have extended for one additional two-year period.
King returned to Blaine after a four-year stint in the army to join the Blaine police reserves. “I did my little trip out of town but I guess you always come back,” he said. He has been a member of the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) for four and a half years on patrol in the county.

Like Monogue before him, King and his family will live in rental housing rather than the manufactured homes in the compound on South Beach Road. “We lived there for three days,” King said, before being driven out by pervasive mold. “My wife said ‘you need to talk to someone.’”

County sheriff Bill Elfo acknowledged the units were not fit for deputies to live in and said they were working with the county executive’s office to determine the best way to replace them. “Because of the condition we decided they needed to be replaced rather than refurbished,” Elfo said, adding that the living units had been there since the 1980s and had not received adequate maintenance due to the difficulties associated with getting service personnel for manufactured housing to Point Roberts. The cinder block jail unit also on the property, where Elfo said they commonly experience damage to computer wiring by rats, will also be removed.

Elfo said his department’s preference for a long-term solution at the site is for a stick-built duplex or two units and perhaps an office. “We’d like a nice facility the county could be proud of and that will attract eager deputies,” Elfo said, adding that poor housing had become a disincentive for deputies to volunteer for the Point Roberts positions. They are also considering the possibility of using the South Beach Road property only for housing and equipment storage, while establishing an office off-site at a more central location. As deputies currently use the detention facilities at the port-of-entry, a new jail facility will not be built.

Jeff Parks, chief criminal deputy for WCSO, said they welcomed input about what kind of facilities would make WCSO more accessible to the community. “We need to become really approachable,” he said. “What we need to have is some kind of facility where the public can access services.”