Editorial

Sheriff's office: no one home

The Sisters sheriff's substation is closed through August 10 while the part-time secretary is on vacation. That leaves area residents with no easy way to contact a sheriff's deputy for non-emergency situations.

Perhaps they want to file a request for vacation patrol, or they want advice on how to handle graffiti on a bridge behind their house or a neighbor's barking dog.

Sure, they can call a dispatcher and leave a message and have a deputy call back, but they'd rather stop by and talk to someone directly.

Sheriff Les Stiles says he believes in community policing. The essence of community policing is citizens interacting with the deputies who serve them, working out issues before they become problems.

In a small, semi-rural community those things matter. Someone has to be there.

The office had a full-time secretary, but she has changed jobs. Right now, the Juvenile Empowerment Team coordinator fills in as secretary. When she's busy with other duties or goes on vacation, the office is closed. It's been closed frequently lately.

Sheriff Stiles needs to fill the secretary's position with a full-time person trained not only to do administrative work but to serve as a customer service representative with Sisters citizens. That's just good community policing. J.C.