Deputies won’t support Benton County Sheriff in a reelection bid

Members of the Benton County Deputy Sheriff's Guild released a letter over the weekend asking for a third party investigation into the actions of Sheriff Jerry Hatcher.

In the letter addressed to Sheriff Hatcher... members call Hatcher a "tyrant" and "oppressive dictator", and say they won't support him if he chooses to run for re-election.

The action comes several months after Hatcher was accused of strangling his wife... and the Benton County Board of Commissioners removing the jail from the Sheriff's oversight.

After receiving the letter, Sheriff Hatcher called his command staff together to address their concerns.

"We have close to 80 deputies, and of course there's going to be a certain segment that doesn't necessarily like change, and may resist it or it'll cause them some anxiety," Hatcher told Newsradio 610 KONA. "So, as we work through that, there are some things that were brought to my attention and that didn't get to my level, and we talked about how we can get better at that."

According to the letter from The Guild, the lack of an internal investigation into allegations of abuse toward his wife, and the virtual elimination of employee recognition are just some of the issues deputies have voiced.

"A deputy would have been subjected to an internal investigation had they been accused of any criminal act similar to when you were charged in 2019 for assault domestic violence and witness tampering.  Regardless of the judicial outcome, an internal investigation would have occurred.  You refused to hold yourself to the same standards and refused to have an internal investigation conducted reviewing these allegations."

The letter goes on to request an internal investigation to consider whether Hatcher violated codes of conduct and other policies.

Hatcher was elected to a 4-year term in November 2018, and says it's too early to determine whether he'll run for reelection.