It’s time for the Jefferson County Board of Legislators to decide who will investigate the Sheriff’s Department.

Tonight, following meetings of the Health and Human Services and Finance and Rules committees, the board will reconvene last week’s special session to hear recommendations from David J. Paulsen, county attorney, on how to proceed with an investigation into a Dec. 1 incident involving Deputy Adam B. Hallett, who was found asleep in his patrol vehicle off County Route 72 in the town of Henderson several hours after he went off duty.

Reports released last week by Mr. Paulsen and Sheriff John P. Burns revealed that Deputy Hallett had a bottle of Jim Beam Red Stag bourbon whiskey in the center console of his vehicle and that another deputy, after noting that the bottle appeared to have been opened and that Deputy Hallett “appeared to have been drinking,” threw the bottle into a nearby field and waved a state police cruiser and ambulance away from the scene before seeing that Deputy Hallett was taken home.

There is no indication that the Legislature intends to extend the investigation to anything beyond the Deputy Hallett incident, though a string of alleged misconduct charges has brought negative attention to the Sheriff’s Department.

The investigatory agency has yet to be identified. Board Chairwoman Carolyn D. Fitzpatrick said last Tuesday that the state police and state attorney general’s office were candidates.

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