WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI - Jerry Clayton’s initial goal was just three terms when he first ran for Washtenaw County sheriff in 2008. Twelve years later, he wants another.
The three-time incumbent is seeking re-election in the Aug. 4 Democratic primary election against Ken Magee of Chelsea, whom Clayton beat by nearly 67,000 votes in 2016. There are no Republican candidates on the ballot.
Rebuilding public trust in police key to Washtenaw sheriff candidate’s campaign
Clayton’s desire for another term, he said, is in part to oversee the implementation of mental health services funded by a county public safety millage in 2017. This motivation stems from his belief that the sheriff’s office’s role extends beyond “just arresting people.”
“How do we work better? How do we solve this,” Clayton said, describing conversations he has with the county’s mental health experts, including Trish Cortes, executive director of Washtenaw County Community Mental Health. “The same people our staff come into contact with in crisis are similar to the people (these experts) are dealing with. So how do we work together?”
The millage raised more than $15 million in property tax revenue in 2018 with roughly three quarters split between Washtenaw County Community Mental Health and the sheriff’s office. The millage, which funds programs such as CARES, or Crisis, Access, Resources, Engagement and Support, had a goal of diverting individuals away from seeking treatment in jails during incarceration.
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The goal in the next four years and beyond his tenure is to create a system where people with mental health and substance abuse problems are “deflected” out of the criminal justice system, Clayton said.
“We’d still fill out a police report and send to the prosecutor, but if that person agrees to go into treatment, that report gets held and they never get charged into the system,” he said.
“Deflection means that we do things to make sure people never get into the (jail or prison) system. Diversion means that even in times where people get arrested, our focus should be on how do we get them out of the system as quickly as possible and support them by making sure they have what they need to address root causes of their issues.”
This strategy of “more diversion” and “less incarceration,” as Clayton puts it, falls in line with the national discussion on police reform and divestment in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer in May. Clayton proposed three initiatives:
- A police compliance commission in the model of President Barack Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing from 2015
- Involving community members in vetting sheriff’s office candidates during the interview process
- Hiring a director for diversity, inclusion and equity
The hope is that these measures are more proactive than a police oversight commission, which Clayton called a reactive approach.
“It’s about mitigating bad things from happening before they happen,” he said. “We want people that are going to shake the culture of the organization and evolve around a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion.”
In response to nationwide calls for defunding police, Clayton broke down his office’s $52-million budget and justified it by saying calls for divestment ignore his office’s constitutional responsibilities that force his budget to be higher.
“The sheriff is constitutionally responsible for the jail,” he said. “Our jail costs are about half of our overall budget...We are also constitutionally responsible for civil process, marine safety, all drowned bodies and court security. When you strip all of that away, there’s little discretionary spending in our budget. What we do have goes towards community engagement.”
The sheriff’s office budget is nearly $31 million for general expenditures and $22 million for corrections operations, according to the 2019-22 prelimary budget summary by the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners. Clayton also pointed to the contract his office has providing dispatch services for police agencies across the county, which he said generates $18 million in revenue for the county.
Connected to his vision for police reform and “deflection” is discretion in which crimes to enforce with an arrest. Crimes such as driving without a license to violations of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s coronavirus executive orders don’t necessarily require jail time, he said.
“Let’s talk (Whitmer’s coronavirus) executive orders,” he said. “I believe she is legally authorized to issue those executive orders, and we’ll enforce those executive orders. However, we’ll decide how to enforce them. We’ll educate people instead of arresting them. It’s no different than the discretion that police officers show every day.”
He also used the example of how his office doesn’t enforce immigration laws, partly because he sees it as a federal issue, but also to maintain public trust with communities of color. That trust, he admitted, took a hit in May when a white deputy was shown on video punching Sha’Teina Grady El during an investigation into a shooting in the Appleridge neighborhood of Ypsilanti Township.
He declined to provide an update to the internal investigation of that incident, which is now being reviewed by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. The backlash, which included escalating public protests, reinforced in him the necessity for collaboration with the community to “blow up” a system that discriminates against Black people, he said.
“I have enough experience to know the current system needs to be blown up,” he said. “It needs to be blown up the right way. I can blow it up and have a mess on my hands, or I can put things in place to better this community.”
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