Responding to allegations that their coverage has been “biased” and that they have been simply “used” by the campaign of Sheriff candidate Chuck Wagner, KALB reported today that in the days following their initial report on politicking and intimidation in the Sheriff’s Department, they were “flooded” with phone calls from sheriff’s deputies opining on the story. (This link includes nearly 18 minutes of videotaped interviews with deputies speaking about intimidation tactics and the politicization of the department).
According to the report, KALB spent over two weeks investigating, during which time they received phone calls from over 30 employees corroborating the allegations that the department has become overrun with politics and that some individuals felt pressured to sign a list and donate $10 in support of candidate Mike Slocum in order to ensure their job security.
Of those 30 or so callers, KALB scheduled on-camera interviews with twelve of them; eventually, only five of them were willing to appear on-camera (and with the exception of Chief Detective Herman Walters, they all concealed their identities). KALB reports:
Once Walters agreed to meet in secret and go on camera, the flow of information began to open up and sheriff’s deputies called into our newsroom to give their opinions. Walters says the reason he went public with his opinions about RPSO employees being pressured was to signal to other deputies with less service time they could trust News Channel 5 and speak freely.
Almost immediately after the Walters interview was conducted the appointments began with deputies reaching out to discuss the matter. In some instances during this three day period the level of fear over filming these interviews was so great the location had to be changed several times.
Over thirty calls were fielded, and twelve interviews were set up. Only five were actually conducted on camera as the majority of the other interviews backed out at the last minute fearing retribution.
Major Slocum has called these allegations “absolutely ridiculous,” while Sheriff William Earl Hilton, who endorsed Slocum early on, was a little more direct and specific. He accused Detective Walters, who is apparently a childhood friend, of being a “nervous” and “paranoid” man and placed the blame for these reports squarely on the shoulders of the Wagner campaign. He also stated that he has no problem with on-duty deputies passing around a petition in support of Slocum, yet, when asked if he had any evidence of Wagner supporters politicking on duty, Hilton said that he did not, but if he did, ironically, he claimed he would investigate and “deal with that.”
When Michele Godard interviewed with Sheriff Hilton, she revealed that before airing the initial report, candidate Mike Slocum told her, “If you air this report and I win, which I will win, this news department will only receive information through a lawyer.”
Isn’t this the same type of intimidation with which he is being accused? What is going on here?
CenLamar 
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