on the cover / By Ryan Burns

Howdy, Sheriff

He and his wife of 30 years now have six children, ranging in age from 13 to almost 30, as well as four grandkids and another on the way. In addition to his duties as undersheriff, Downey volunteers as a scoutmaster with the Boy Scout troop in Fortuna, and he serves as vice chair for the Humboldt County chapter of the American Red Cross. Until recently he was also an instructor at College of the Redwoods’ police academy (stricter teacher requirements forced him to drop that responsibility for now).

While he’s served with Philp throughout his career in Humboldt County, Downey said they’ve worked especially closely since he was promoted to undersheriff three years ago. “We share the same basic goals and direction [that] we think the sheriff’s office should go,” Downey said recently over a cup of coffee in Old Town Eureka. With receding salt-and-pepper hair and a round, genial face, Downey looks a bit like actor Oliver Platt. In a suit and tie, he appeared relaxed and confident while laying out his credentials. “I think we’ve shown through the last eight years that we have been going in a very positive direction,” he said.

Specifically he pointed to the modernization of the department, which in recent years has added new computers in patrol cars, a grant-funded command van and the only Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit in the region with a bomb-defusing robot, for which the department had to receive training from the FBI.

Downey said the next step in the modernization process should be rebuilding the manpower of the force, though he admitted that may be difficult with the current condition of California’s finances. So he and Philp have set their sights a bit lower for now — aiming to get through the next two years without losing any more personnel.

He said the challenges faced by the sheriff’s office include not just the vast geographical region over which the county’s communities are spread, but also the distinct character of the communities themselves. Having worked in Shelter Cove, Garberville, Hoopa, McKinleyville and many towns in between, Downey said each community has different expectations for law enforcement — from the rugged individualists of Southern Humboldt to the conservatives in Fortuna to the eclectic civil libertarians of Arcata.

Regardless of the town, though, Downey says every resident has the right to feel safe and secure in their homes, which is why he selected the campaign slogan, “Building Safer Communities.” The way to achieve that, he said, is by opening up lines of communication, revitalizing neighborhood watch groups and making himself available to people. “You know, the old Andy of Mayberry critique is probably the best model you had,” Downey said. “He would go out and talk to people. He’d sit and have coffee with them, chat with ‘em.”

Humboldt County, of course, is bigger than Mayberry, and the sheriff’s staff is considerably more complicated than Barney Fife. But through community organizers and his own outreach (he vowed to be out of the office, traveling to outlying areas at least two days per week), Downey said he aims to “put a face to the office of sheriff [so that] people feel comfortable bringing their issues to me.”

Last week, Mike Hislop posted a 42-second YouTube video on his campaign Web site that opens with ominous, synthesized strains of “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” the epic theme music from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Posted next to the video is this provocative challenge: “Mike Hislop’s opponent is leading people to believe that the Undersheriff actually runs the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office and not the Sheriff. Who really runs the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office?” In the video, Hislop answers — four times in 30 seconds — that it is, in fact, the sheriff. The motivation for the video came from Downey’s assertion, which he made to the Journal and elsewhere, that as undersheriff he has “executive authority” over the Sheriff’s Office.

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