News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The Sisters area will not see heavier coverage than its getting now from a short-staffed Deschutes County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff Les Stiles told a small audience at a town hall meeting on Wednesday, September 12, that under current budget constraints, the sheriff's office may not be able to hire more patrol deputy positions in the next three years.
However, Stiles pledged to fill the office assistant position in Sisters so that the sheriff's substation can remain open to the public full-time.
"We had interviews last week for office assistants," Patrol Captain Tim Edwards announced. "We have six highly qualified candidates."
Stiles would not, however, commit to a time when that office assistant will start work, citing a continuing budget shortfall. The sheriff said only that his first hiring priority will be office assistants and corrections deputies to staff the jail.
Retired sergeant Rich Shawver has been manning the desk at the Sisters substation on a part-time basis for the past few weeks. Juvenile Empowerment Team coordinator Karianne Aaron is in the office when her duties allow.
Shawver believes that having the office open and accessible to the public is important.
"The citizens deserve it," Shawver said. "And the deputies deserve to have someone there to help them with their work."
Shawver asked Stiles whether there is any chance of putting an extra patrol deputy to work in the Sisters area. He said that deputies left to cover the area alone are "run ragged."
"Is there any way, with your staffing, to get these deputies some help?" Shawver asked.
Stiles acknowledged that deputies sometimes have to run between Redmond and Sisters, but he did not hold out much hope of change. He said that 60 percent of calls for service to the sheriff's office come from south of Lava Butte and he is committed to beefing up staff in the La Pine area.
Even that effort has fallen short of campaign promises to increase patrol staff in the south county by 100 percent, Stiles acknowledged.
Stiles noted that the City of Sisters receives considerably more hours of patrol than it pays for in its approximately $238,000 per year law enforcement contract with the sheriff's office.
The stipulated contract hours add up to approximately 480 hours of patrol time per month.
According to north county sergeant Mike Johnston, Sisters deputies spent 729 hours working in the city in July and 731 hours in August.
"You're getting a pretty good deal now, at a pretty good cost," Stiles asserted.
The contract expires at the end of June next year. The city could renegotiate for more services, but that would certainly cost more.
"There's nothing to prohibit you from contracting for any level of service," Stiles said.
On the other hand, he said, "to be real honest, if you want local control, you need your own police department."
Stiles transferred four deputy positions from the patrol division to staff the Deschutes County Jail, which is maxing out on its capacity.
In fact, Stiles said, he has developed and is prepared to implement a "matrix" plan to turn low-risk inmates loose when the jail hits a point at which corrections deputies can no longer ensure safety.
According to Stiles, county jails have been pushed "to the wall" by Ballot Measure 11 requirements to incarcerate violent offenders for their full terms and by state law transferring some inmates from state prisons to county jails.
The matrix plan indexes inmates brought into jail on a point system based on the nature of the offense they were arrested on, their criminal history and their roots in the community.
"The lowest number, the least likely to offend walk out the door," Stiles said.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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