Budget handcuffs police and sheriff
By David Brown
Of th« Enw aid
Cost may become a factor in whether
the Eugene Police Department
investigates a crime "And that's a lousy
way to run a police business," says Chief
James Packard.
Packard, an average-sized man,
speaks slowly and deliberately He
moves to the drawing board for explana
tions, his desk for official opinions, and
the conference table to explain the sta
tistic sheet Despite the bad news, Pack
ard is ready to share a friendly laugh
With foresight, Packard plotted a
smooth course through recent budget
cuts in the Eugene Police Department's
overall budget. The reductions took a toll
of 13 percent in personnel and extensive
spending cuts. Overall, the Department's
budget reduction totaled 15 percent
He explains that the personnel reduc
tions began mid-way through the last
fiscal year in anticipation of the July cuts
to the city's budget.
Packard effectively trimmed a force of
229 employees and officers by 30 posi
tions through choosing not to fill posi
tions as they opened, canceling overtime
pay, and laying-off eight officers. The
eight officers were offered lower paying
jobs in administration, says Packard. Six
officers accepted those jobs.
"Our main concern, however, has
been that we maintain our uniform patrol
strength as near to the same level as is
currently being experienced in the city.
So our response time to life-threatening
and property-threatening calls, we're
hoping, will not decrease by one fraction
•of a second."
A lower number of patrol cars will be
available to respond to life-threatening
calls. So lower priority calls may be held
in "communications" until a car reaches
the area.
"I might have a unit tied-up or I might
have only one or two units available in
the city at that point," Packard says.
“Depending on how it goes later on
down the line,” he continues, "there will
be some requests from the public that we
have traditionally responded to that we
may have to eliminate entirely.”
Along with personnel cuts from 45 to
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Fourteen patrol cars will be auctioned off to provide money for vehicle repairs. If there
is enough money made, the department can replace only one vehicle.
used for extradition and investigation of
cases fell from $31,000 to $15,0000. “
“That figure scares me," Packard says.
"There will be some cases that we feel
should be investigated that will not be
investigated because we won’t have the
manpower. For lack of a better method,
in some cases, we'll set dollar limits."
"But crimes of violence will continue to
be investigated fully. The indecent ex
posure and those minor — if you want to
call any sex offense minor — things we
will probably not be able to investigate
anymore.”
Joint investigations of some crimes
will also be affected by recent cuts in the
Sheriff s Department. Packard doesn’t
think anyone knows what impact those
cuts will have. But “impacts from cuts in
the District Attorney’s Office are liable to
be significant,” he says. Such cuts may
hinder prosecutions.
Sheriff David Burks has comolaints on
his own budget, which is part of Lane
County’s battered budget.
“We just aren’t going to have the peo
ple to work joint investigations,” Burks
says.
Burks speaks candidly, saying the
Eugene police don’t know what a real
budget cut is. “It's just that we're, if
anything, jealous,” he adds.
He says he will have only four detec
tives when one comes back from sick
leave this week.
"A year ago yesterday I had 63 more
positions than I have today. And they
(The Lane County Board of Commis
sioners) are still talking about up to a
million dollars that they want to get out of
this department. There’s just no way.”
Of those 63 positions, 30 were patrol
men.
Burks explains that his department
now has about two cars on patrol per
shift in the Eugene-Springfield me
tropolitan area. "We used to run about
12 cars."
“If River Road and Santa Clara were a
city, it would be the seventh largest city in
the state of Oregon. And we have the
whole thing to take care of. We just can’t
take care of it as it should be.”
The Sheriff’s Department underwent
county cuts totaling 21 percent of the
department’s budget. This is Burks’ third
budget reduction in as many years.
Recently, a suspect arrested for burg
larly admitted coming to Lane County
because of cuts in law enforcement
budgets. The suspect reportedly said
“the word had spread throughout Olym
pia (Washington) that there were no
policemen left in Lane County.”
Although the Lane Interagency Nar
cotics Team which apprehended him has
now been disbanded, Burks said that a
similar idea among criminals could still
be prevalent.
“His big mistake was that he went in on
a silent alarm and of course that gives us
a little time to get there.” But if only two
cars are out and they are tied-up "we
may have to let an alarm go."
“There is no question that people who
have ill thoughts in mind know that the
chances of being caught by a Sheriff’s
deputy, or even seeing one, is getting to
be minimal. The county will become a
haven and sanctuary for criminals to
prey off the citizens of Eugene and
Springfield.”
Burks admits that those are strong
words but adds he is being strangled by
the budget and prevented from doing his
"lawful mandate.”
Burks says he hopes for voter approval
on an August referendum of a county
levy to increase funds for his office, the
District Attorney’s office, and the juvenile
detention center.
In an attempt to keep costs down, the
Sheriff’s Department expanded a neigh
borhood watch program consisting of
1,400 people. Burks says that such an
organization can’t operate without re
sponse from a well-staffed department.
He adds that these volunteers represent
the only crime prevention program left in
his area.
Packard picks up a list of spending
cuts. The department is taking out
phones and re-evaluating the entire
phone system to hold the phone bill
down. Fourteen patrol cars will be auc
tioned off to provide money for vehicle
repairs. And, if there is enough money
made at the auction, the department can
replace only one vehicle. Mailing ex
penses were $500 for the year.
The list goes on.
“I think it’s going to be stress and
tension time for several years for all of
us,” Packard says with a slight grimace.
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