By DEAN REA/Editor/The Herald — The Lane County Sheriff’s Office expects to put more patrol cars on the road, to shorten response time to emergency calls and to resume investigating property crimes after receiving approval to hire eight deputies.
Lane County commissioners unanimously approved a plan Tuesday to beef up the county’s police force, to replenish road fund reserves and to fund Territorial Highway improvements.
Several commissioners thanked congressional representatives for their efforts in securing $13.7 million in federal money to fund these projects.
Sheriff Cliff Harrold outlined efforts to rebuild a department that once had more than 100 budgeted deputy sheriffs to provide countywide patrol responses. Today 25 budgeted deputies provide the same service.
Adding a fourth member to patrol units will make it possible to assign more officers to respond to calls, to reduce response time to calls and to reduce stress levels of officers and their families, he said.
“Minimum staffing levels are three deputies and a sergeant to staff the day and swing shifts and two deputies and a sergeant to staff the graveyard shift. Contract deputies do not work during the graveyard shift so are not available to assist in emergencies.”
He also said that adding a detective to the force will make it possible to respond to property crime reports.
Commissioners approving the plan were Pat Farr, Heather Buch, Laurie Trieger, Joe Berney and Jay Bozievich.
Several Highway 58 communities and rural areas are dependent upon the sheriff’s office for law enforcement. These rural areas include Jasper and Fall Creek.
Oakridge, which maintains a police force, is the exception. Lowell and Westfir contract with Oakridge to provide police protection for 40 hours a month. (EDITOR’S NOTE: This story corrects an earlier version that reported, incorrectly, that Westfir relies on the sheriff’s office for protection.)
Pleasant Hill and Dexter depend on the sheriff’s office for this service along with the help, primarily traffic control, from Oregon State Police.
Creswell contracts with the sheriff’s office for full-time policing.
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