I'm not sure about everything you wrote, but I will comment on this:

Our juvenile system is in similar collapse. They're forced to release very dangerous juveniles, including assaultive and sex-offending juveniles, every week.

The fact is, the current population of the juvenile dentention is  low, and there are actually open beds that could be filled, and are just waiting on the next arrest.  They do release juveniles, but those that are a risk to the community to not get released.  As far as right now what you said is innacurate.  I cannot speak to the rest of what you said.

No. You're wrong, Buzz. And I recognize you as a person of conscience, so I expect a correction after you speak with Lisa Smith, the director of the county Juvenile Department that runds the juvenile detention facility. She regularly has to release dangerous, assaultive, predatory juveniles, including sex-offenders. Ask her these questions:
1) How often are you forced to release violent or predatory juveniles that would normally be held in other systems? (Every week).
2) Do you have any females who are dangerous and score as "high risk"? (yes)
3. Do you have ANY capacity to hold female offenders? (no)
4. Has your juvenile violence and sex offender rate increased? (yes)
5. How often does your system make dangerous placements you would recommend against? (every week)
6. What has happened to Land County capacity over time? (The system has been devastated. Remember McClaren? Lane County's share of all those state-owned beds was basically dumped on Lane County without any funding to re-create the capacity here. Other grant/federal/state money has been lost, so they have a small fraction of the capacity they used to have... when they had LESS violence.)
7. What about the big facility on Centennial in Eugene? (Only one-third of the detention facility is opened, because the taxpayers don't want to fund it.)
8. How long has it been since a violent juvenile offender was placed in the community when the prudent placement was close custody? (less than a week?)

Buzz, you're a news-person, you've reported on this stuff, why don't you answer the idiots who continue to say you have no crime problem in Eugene/Springfield/Lane County? Don't you have access to the data/reports? Haven't you noticed the FBI trending data which show declines in national crime trends while violence in your area is UP? How can there be ANYBODY in that community who thinks there is no crime problem in Eugene? How can a county get to the point of having ten cars stolen EVERY DAY ALL YEAR and STILL think "no problemo...I leave my door open and my keys in the ignition" ? I find that level of ignorance terrifying.

P.S. There ARE open beds, but not FUNDED beds -- meaning 2/3 of your detention facility is vacant, but there is no money to operate it. In that respect it's like your jail. It has a capacity of 500 beds, almost half of a normal jail for a community your size, but 20% is CLOSED and another 25% of the space is rented to others, like the federal government. Another 40% is supposed to be occupied by SB-1145 inmates, criminals who used to be housed in the State Pen. That leaves your system trying to function on about 15% to 30% of the HALF of normal capacity.

And those people referencing the California system are especially clueless. If your system was adjusted by population to look like an average California community of similar size you'd have 2.5 times as many sworn police officers, your jail would be twice the present size, you'd fund mental health and drug treatment, you'd double the number of POs and DAs and, VOILA, you'd have HALF the crime rate. That actually works in most of California. And Texas. And Ohio, Colorado, Nevada, Kansas, Iowa -- and so on. Oregon, and Lane County in particular, made a choice to get rid of all the cops and justice system components.

And, by the way, you used to have normal police staffing. Oregon used to be in the middle of the U.S. average. You're in this box now because you put yourselves there, no doubt due to the "don't worry be happy" Eugene political philosophy perpetuated by people like the guy who leaves his doors unlocked, his keys in the ignition and his brain in neutral...

My question to Halo would be. 

Why do you throw up unsupported numbers? 

When you said “after you speak with Lisa Smith”, does that mean those questions and answers lower down in your post came from her? 

Again, I notice that you misquote people from past post.  Such as, “I leave my door open and my keys in the ignition" when what I read was “I feel very safe in Eugene, and I never lock my doors.”.  Locking doors does not prevent people from breaking in. 

Misquoting and unsupported venting does not give you credibility.     

"Lady Justice', I didn't miss-quote anybody. The phrase you note wasn't attributed. It was an amalgamation of stupid-isms which reflect the community's generally oblivious, apathetic attitude.

I'm not searching for an assessment of credibility or other validation from you either. You don’t believe any of this? Fine. Not my problem. I've already found some relief, by leaving Lane County.

And no, I’m not some frustrated cop who lost his job*. I’m just a frustrated crime victim several times over. I care about this stuff enough to write because my family was victimized and received no significant law enforcement response, because there was none available.

I grew up in Eugene and Elmira back when most of the people in Lane County were either Oregonians or U of O students (and most of them were Oregonians). That was back before the state of California moved in.

I remember when there was no graffiti, you didn’t have to wade through hoodlums to get into the store, and you could leave a new pickup on Lane County’s rural boat ramps without returning to find the window smashed and the stereo and contents gone. Back then the Sheriff was funded to patrol, so he and his deputies did just that. There were no goofy traffic teams forced to ticket speeders just to pay to keep a police response available in case of emergency. It was better then. The cops were out and about, and they were friendly. They wrote the occasional speeding ticket, of course, but they were not the enemy.

Now everybody is from California, and community expectations have changed. A little graffiti is no big deal and neither is the occasional gang murder. After all, they read about a new murder in L.A. almost every day, so reading about only one per month is no big deal. It doesn’t even penetrate the callous.

Here’s the thing. L.A. County has 300 times the population of Lane County. Reading about a murder per year in Lane County would be about like reading about 300 per year in L.A. So it should be worth at least a raised eyebrow when four new murders hit the Eugene media in four weeks. Maybe not. No big deal.

Before we left, Lane County had risen to the 98th percentile in the USA for car theft and the 95th percentile for residential burglary. Big deal? Nope.

When we became crime victims I went nuts. I was hurt, frightened, and very, very mad. I’m STILL mad. I wanted answers, so I started calling people and I started paying attention. That’s when I began to learn how bad it was. At least half the people who heard our story shared stories of being criminally victimized. I started to wonder if it was like this everywhere. Now I can say that it isn’t.

Did you know that Douglas County, the county immediately south of Lane, has only one third of Lane’s population but over four times the patrol staffing on an average shift? Douglas County Sheriff also has twice the detective staffing, and approximately the same amount of usable jail space. So, to be staffed similarly per population, Lane County would need approximately 6 times the number of detectives (net 24), 12 times the patrol staffing (net 24 to 36) and three times the usable jail space. That sounds crazy until you discover that the Lane County Sheriff used to have 18 detectives in 1981, back when there were 60,000 fewer citizens and there was less than half of the serious crime rate.

When class sizes swell to 33 or 35 kids, parents start complaining, and they should. With few exceptions, schools manage to keep up with increases in population. They get new buildings from time to time too. Not so for public safety. Go on down and take a hard look at the Lane County public safety system. The police officer staffing has been CUT 60% while the population has increased over 20% and the serious crime rate has more than doubled. New Building? Not in decades. The dilapidated courthouse was built in the 50s. When we went to court there were buckets in the halls to catch the rain. The DA’s office had carpet seams that were Duct-taped, a leaking roof and walls that desperately needed painting. It was an embarrassment – but they were more concerned with filling offices with much needed staff than painting walls or fixing carpet. Staffing? In 1981 the Lane County DA had 11 full-time investigators (detectives) in the criminal division. Today only ONE is left. The DAs now do much of their own secretarial work, and there are only 20 DAs left to handle twice the volume that used to be processed by 30 DAs and additional staff in 1981. No problem.

No problem. Not until somebody preys on your family anyway.

As long as you don’t mind the new look of Eugene, with more transients, graffiti and evident crime all the time, and you don’t mind paying the insurance rates that come with living in an area that is in the worst 5% of the country for car theft and other property crimes, you’re fine – until you or somebody you love is a victim.

If you don’t believe this, read the report linked below (from a previous thread). It’s packed with the statistics that others have shared here, and the sources are listed. Still don’t believe it? Go read the Public Safety Coordinating Council’s reports. Don’t believe them? Then search the last six or eight Register Guard editorials on Public Safety. Still don’t believe it? Stop in to see the Sheriff or the DA, or the Lane County Juvenile Department, or MADD, or anybody else who is intimate with the system, including the folks trying to assist with drug treatment or mental health. It’s true. You’re LAST in the USA in police staffing and, as of 2004, in the worst 2% to 5% for property crime, with violence increasing there while is’t declining at the national level. And you STILL have idiots out there saying “Don’t worry, be happy”. Or better yet, “Don’t throw money at a broken system.” (It’s like saying the same thing when teachers are ineffective with class sizes of 90.)

The good news is, you good citizens are getting exactly what you want. And that’s fair. For the few, like Hunter, who value public safety above additional green-space and "sustainable business formation" (what?!), you can always move. It gets better in EVERY direction.

Here is a 2004 report linked in other threads, as it's apparent some haven't read it. It shows how the county looked before the last couple years of staff cuts. I understand it's worse now, of course, and it is expected to get even worse next year, as more deep cuts are on the way as the federal money dwindles to zero.

http://www.esnips.com/web/LanePublicSafety/


*Actually, I think there must be very few police officers losing their jobs because of layoffs, as the Sheriff and Eugene are constantly trying to hire to replace deputies/officers who are bailing out to work elsewhere. The Sheriff loses people for a variety of reasons, including low pay, but EPD pays pretty well. It loses officers because this is a lousy place to be a cop. Nobody wants to work where they’re not wanted. Did you see the Op-Ed from the police union guys in the paper ten days ago?

Halo....

 

The buckets are still there in the downtown building.  I've been told that every year, they try to redo the roof where it leaks, but it just comes in someplace else.

You might recall way back when (though not too long ago), that the East Lane County Commissioner attended the meetings via phone because the mold problem was so bad, it was causing her to have a reaction.

and they STILL are more concerned about filling needed positions than worry about the building.  That's the way they are.  They care a lot more about things than anyone else cares about them, despite the criticism and doubters.  It's only going to get worse, before it gets better.

 

Back to Gang Murders.  It is a down right shame that a new wave of gangs have entered our serene, fair minded community and county.  Of course, the murders are bad; whether they come from the homegrown gangs or the Imported gangs or some guy in Oakridge killing his mom.  Like I said, it doesn’t matter if the door is locked or the security camera is rolling; if they want to injure, scare, threaten, or shoot, the gangs of yesterday, today and tomorrow will do what they want.

 

For Halos’ crime victimization; he is just one of many.  You were out fishing and left your pick up on a rural road.  Your truck was victimized.  Does it seem odd that a person expects the sheriffs department to guard his truck when he leaves it near the river while he is out fishing? Did you take any type of precautionary measures that a reasonable person would take when they plan on leaving their car in a remote area? Did you have insurance?  Did you get reimbursed for your loss? If you didn’t have insurance to cover your car, I suggest you get some.  If you didn’t have insurance and left your car in a remote area with anything you value in it, then you were just not using common sense.  If you expect security to be posted on your vehicle while you go fishing, leave your vehicle in a place that provides those services.  Otherwise, it is like complaining when you drop your sunglasses in the river while fishing. Do you think the sheriffs department should have scuba teams out there to recover them for you?  

 

 There’s a hole in my bucket, my bucket.  There’s a hole in my bucket, now what do I do?

Lady Justice:

As I remember, they were camping in a remote area.  How do you think more sheriff deputies would have prevented that?  This is similar to the serial murders of Ted Bundy, The Green River Killer or the Zodiac Killer, which are usually only solved by sheer luck.  Meth has changed the mindset of criminals. You are dealing with people who are partially psychotic from lack of sleep for many days in a row.  A judgment call of whether they might be seen by a police officer or get caught afterwards usually wouldn’t enter into their decision process.  With all the publicity in the newspapers and local media about how easy it is to just not show up and not be pursued by Lane County, it’s a wonder that anyone shows up for court, at all.

I agree with your statement about having a gun in the house to shoot anyone who breaks in.

Your last sentence indicates that crime prevention is important if it is a crime that happened to you.   So what kinds of crimes have happened to you lately?  We would want to petition the county government to spend money to protect your interests.

Well your statement goes to show how little you know about crime and law enforcement, every one of the killers you mentioned were caught through direct involvment of law enforcement.

 But hey, why bother with spending any money on law enforcement if you own a firearm it's all good, until you don't have it. Bury your head in the sand if you wish, but remember that our meth cooks love the way you think.

Lady Justice, are you just taunting Halo because he's unpleasant, or are you making a point? if you're trying to make a point, I'm missing it. Are you saying that we don't have a crime problem? Do you think we're in good shape with respect to our public safety system? If that's the case, I'd like to hear the basis of your analysis, as I have yet to hear that view from an informed person in our community.

I favor supporting prevention over indiscriminate support of police and other enforcement, but I'm not naive enough to ignore the real risks associated with increasing crime and having no police presence in rural areas. I don't use the boat ramps, but I do enjoy the parks, and we've had our car keyed and smashed for no reason at the park. It's irrelevant that I'm insured. It's a huge pain in the neck, and it's a terrible feeling of being violated. I'd rather live in a community where that didn't happen more than anywhere else, and I don't agree with your fatalistic view that people are going to do whatever they want to do and there's nothing we can do to stop them.

I favor a balanced system, which is why I found the position of the DA and the Sheriff so refreshing. It's also what the folks at the Lane County Health and Human Services advocate for -- and THEY are complaining that the absence of jail space and functional enforcement is impairing their ability to be effective with drug treatment and other services. Here, many of the chronic addicts that might otherwise be helped are released from jail before they sober up enough to make a clear-headed decision about drug treatment. By the time they've accumulated enough serious crimes/arrests to be held for a few days they're no longer eligible for the more lenient programs that might have allowed a second chance at adulthood. They're primed for prison with multiple robberies/burglaries/car-thefts and the like. Communities with normal public safety systems can hold first-time offenders long enough for them to reflect on the diversion or drug court programs. Many such people choose diversion, drug-court or restorative justice and then return to normal lives, but lenient diversion-type programs are not available to people who have stolen a dozen cars and robbed a bunch of homes.

I'm progressive, but that doesn't require checking my brain at the door. One of the many good things done by the Clinton administration was the creation/support of the "COPS grant", a program which resulted in the addition of 100,000 police officers nationwide. Near the end of his presidency, when Bush #1 was making the "Democrat-soft-on-crime" argument before the election, the Clinton administration's substantial impact on crime rates was heralded as a direct result of putting the extra police on the streets. They (Clinton/Gore) claimed that elevated police density caused a significant reduction in crime, and that was consistent with the numbers they showed. It also made sense, as additional police meant people were more likely to get caught when they committed new crimes AND seeing police officers more frequently also discouraged criminal behavior in the first place.

The people who think every crime problem can be solved by "jail beds and badges" are incorrect and short-sighted. We can't afford that solution, and caring people wouldn't want to. On the other hand, the people who think we can educate, service or treat every criminal into proper behavior are equally unrealistic. We need balance.

Right now we have less than one third of the jail capacity that ALL agreed was inadequate twenty-five years ago when we had MUCH less crime, so it must be even less adequate now. I have no idea how much jail space we actually need, but it's obviously a lot more than we have.

I don't know how many police officers we need either, but it's seems unlikely we're at the balance point now. Last night on KEZI, the anchor said that the number of sworn officers in Lane County had been reduced by over 60%, while the population had increased by 60,000. The officer shortage seems to be compounded because the few cops out there seem to be writing tickets in order to generate money to self-fund. I don't think anybody wants that, but if the tickets go away, the cops go away, and then there will be even less to answer calls for help.

The FBI data in the police summary report shows Lane County as last in the USA for number of police officers per population -- so we probably don't have balance there either. I assume our crime problem would be at least somewhat less severe if we staffed our system more like the rest of the country.

Lastly, I don't think you got Halo's point. I re-read his last post, and I don't think he was saying that it was HIS truck on a boat ramp. I took his remarks as a general statement of the level of crime we have now, not a claim that his truck was the one damaged on the boat ramp. Actually I found myself wondering if his daughter had been raped. I hope that wasn't the case.

Lady Justice:

Back to Gang Murders.  It is a down right shame that a new wave of gangs have entered our serene, fair minded community and county.  Of course, the murders are bad; whether they come from the homegrown gangs or the Imported gangs or some guy in Oakridge killing his mom.  Like I said, it doesn’t matter if the door is locked or the security camera is rolling; if they want to injure, scare, threaten, or shoot, the gangs of yesterday, today and tomorrow will do what they want.

 

For Halos’ crime victimization; he is just one of many.  You were out fishing and left your pick up on a rural road.  Your truck was victimized.  Does it seem odd that a person expects the sheriffs department to guard his truck when he leaves it near the river while he is out fishing? Did you take any type of precautionary measures that a reasonable person would take when they plan on leaving their car in a remote area? Did you have insurance?  Did you get reimbursed for your loss? If you didn’t have insurance to cover your car, I suggest you get some.  If you didn’t have insurance and left your car in a remote area with anything you value in it, then you were just not using common sense.  If you expect security to be posted on your vehicle while you go fishing, leave your vehicle in a place that provides those services.  Otherwise, it is like complaining when you drop your sunglasses in the river while fishing. Do you think the sheriffs department should have scuba teams out there to recover them for you?  

 

 There’s a hole in my bucket, my bucket.  There’s a hole in my bucket, now what do I do?

Lady, I'm afraid you are the quintessential new Eugene resident. You managed to miss EVERY point, and misinterpret EVERY reference, again, so your response was completely off the mark, again. Hope was kind enough to throw you a rope, though I doubt it will do any lasting good.

Your statements about crime and victimization couldn't be more obtuse and naive. You say,
"Like I said, it doesn’t matter if the door is locked or the security camera is rolling; if they want to injure, scare, threaten, or shoot, the gangs of yesterday, today and tomorrow will do what they want." Are you suggesting that locks, cops and video don't deter crime? That's simply not true, and it ranks as one of the most idiotic assertions I've ever heard. Successful gang leaders, like any other successful criminal, engage in a risk-benefit analysis when they pick their targets. They always have. They don't want the stage-coach guarded by the cavalry, or the bank with state of the art security and extra armed guards. And the house that has reinforced, dead-bolted doors, security cameras and sporadic, unpredictable police patrols is FAR less likely to become a target. Like wolves, predatory criminals pick the easy, low-risk, high-net targets. That's why purse-snatchers mug little old ladies instead of taking on guys built like professional football players for their wallets. That's why Al Capone didn't take on distilleries that were manned by hordes of FBI agents. He took the path of greatest profit and least resistance/risk. I can't imagine a more obvious, self-evident point. Perhaps you should re-read your history books.

That's half the point, Lady. Eugene and Lane County, and to a lesser extent Oregon, have spent the last three decades getting rid of cops and DA's and other enforcement structure, a process which has converted Lane County from a perfectly healthy community to the little-old-lady of jurisdictions. Part of the reason Oregon is getting stuck with California's criminals is because Oregon has a kinder-gentler felony sentencing structure. The two-strikers flea California and come to Oregon/Lane County, because the next time they get caught robbing somebody in California they're facing a life sentence. In that respect the California sentence structure is working very well for them, as it's pushing their worst, most recalcitrant criminals away to Oregon, where the felony sentence structure is the lightest on the west coast, averaging one-seventh of the US average for similar offenses. (Oregon had the lowest incarceration rate on the west coast, by far, until the VOTERS passed ballot measure 11 out of frustration with the legislature's unwillingness to act. The violent crime rate dropped precipitously following the implementation of ballot measure 11 too, by the way, and the same thing happened in the 32 other states that enacted similar "tough on crime" legislation at about the same time.) What a coincidence.

I suspect you'll see a similar phenomena when the Springfield City jail is built: suddenly all the petty criminals will miraculously and coincidentally decide to move to Eugene (unless it's winter and they need a warm bed.)

Next, as Hope and others managed to discern, a simple car-clout was not the crime that turned my attention to the failing Lane County public safety system. That's not the point, of course. I made the boat ramp reference because the rampant crime at boat ramps is just one more barometer of our county's profound public safety woes. Though I have seen several cars/trucks smashed at boat ramps over the last few years, and my wife's truck was smashed at a local business, I have yet to be victimized at a boat ramp, because we quit leaving our nice vehicles there. It means more work, less flexibility and it requires committed friends, but we now get dropped off and have friends drive the rigs and trailers to a place where they can be watched when we float the river. That means we go less often and we're less inclined to float the more remote sections, because it's harder to arrange shuttles than it used to be. Twenty and thirty years ago we used the ramp system as it was designed: We put the boat/raft in, drove down to the take-out point, parked the truck, and hitched a ride back up to the spot we put in. In almost thirty years I saw two vehicles smashed, and both had been left overnight. In the last five years we've seen plenty. My boss had his SUV smashed at a ramp in the middle of a summer Saturday while he was floating the river, and there were several families with kids swimming nearby when he parked his rig, so he thought it was reasonably safe. The parents and kids were still there when he returned to find his rig and another one smashed. When he reported the damage/theft to the Sheriff's office he was told "it happens all the time" -- two or three times per week now -- and "We have nobody available to respond, but please tell us where to mail the report so you can fill it in for insurance purposes." Including the boosted stereo, the damage to his vehicle was almost $1,700. In Lane County that no longer merits a police response. I guess that's a normal cost of living in your little serene community full of nice serene people, but it never used to be. And it still isn't where we go rafting and fishing in Washington and Idaho. They have SOME crime in those places, of course, but there is a lot of room between crime rates in the lowest 20% of the USA and those in the worst 2% to 5% of the USA. You're apparently okay with the latter. Good for you. I'm not, so I left.

When our family was victimized we found that Lane County's per-capita incidence of rape was higher that two thirds of the most populous cities in the country. Shall we lay that statistic at the feet of the victims too? Are our young woman just more stupid, ill-prepared or short on common sense when compared with their counterparts in Philadelphia, San Diego or Topeka? No. That would be another absurd assertion.

The more likely answer is that you have no idea what you're talking about. You haven't read the reports or spoken to the experts. You haven't seen the comparative crime surveys or the polls asking the residents of Lane County how they're doing. Maybe you and your family have been especially lucky, I hope that's true. That would be nice. Or maybe you haven't been there more than five or six years. Or maybe you moved there from an even worse place, like N.E. Portland or South-Central L.A., so the contrast makes Eugene look better. Whatever the reason, you're simply wrong. Call and talk to some of the people who actually know. The Public Safety Coordinating Council has lay citizens on it. Read their reports between 2004 and 2008. Or read the Register Guard's summary of their reports. It you want more detail, get the raw numbers from the FBI or, better yet, the DA and the local police agencies, as they have the sources from which the FBI summaries are derived. Here's one more concern: according to Terry Smith, an analyst for the City of Eugene, the incidence on non-reporting of crime has been increasing there for several years, so as bad as the numbers are, many of them actually under-measure the crime frequency. (That's especially true of Rape.)

You see, Lady, when it comes to assessing the health and safety of the community, my personal/anecdotal experience and your personal experience don't really matter. What matters is the overall incidence of crime and/or violence. On balance, I'd rather live in the 340,000 citizen community that suffers only eight car thefts per week than one, like yours, that experiences an average of ten car thefts per day, because in the community like yours you HAVE to take more precautions and you're STILL more likely to come out of the store one night and find your car gone. My car is insured, of course, but I'm fond of it. I don't want it stolen -- especially if I'm going to get it back in three weeks completely trashed, repainted and stinking of cigarette smoke.

If possible download the .PDF file below to see the data presented in an easier to read format.

 

Frankly Halo you are full of it. You do not provide references to your statistics. You admit to making up stories to support your view. Your logic is based on fantasy. There may be fewer cops in Lane County, but you do not provide any reliable numbers. Using percentage drops on numbers less than 50 gives skewed high scare tactic results. Use real numbers. Your examples are absurd to debate because they are made up. Your crime numbers can now be raised to whatever you want by invoking, "the unreported crimes". Why are you using these cheap scare tactics? Simple, you want to increase taxes without looking at how they are going to be spent. Using your logic it must be the people who fund law enforcement that deliberately created a situation of easy crime to lure California gangs and two-timers for the express purpose of raising taxes in a state that was tired of endless tax increases without accountability.

 

http://www.lanecounty.org/CAO_Budget/Budget/documents/Adopted0607/PublicSafety.pdf

 

“Strategic Goals & Objectives

The primary goal for the Sheriff’s Office during FY 06-07 is establishing adequate and stable funding for the public safety system. In the Sheriff’s Office Corrections Division, 96 jail beds are closed. Sheriff’s patrol continues to be understaffed, serving the 4,620 square miles of the county with only 2 to 3 Deputies per shift. The Interagency Narcotics Team, the detective dedicated to domestic violence, participation in the regional SWAT team, a Transport deputy, and internal support staff all have been cut because of General Fund budget reductions. The demand in the community for these public safety services continues.”

 

Their first “goal” is fund raising. It they had 4 deputies per shift and decrease to 2, it will be billed as a 50 % decrease.

 

 

 

“Interoperable Communications Opportunities:

The lack of interoperable wireless communications is a challenge impacting public safety agencies across the country. Interoperability is the ability of public safety agencies to talk across disciplines and jurisdictions via radio communications systems exchanging voice and/or data with one another. The benefits of interoperability include improving the ability of officers to save lives and property, facilitating rapid and efficient interaction among all public safety organizations and providing immediate and coordinated assistance in day-to-day missions.”

 

This is another way of describing a party line cell phone using FM broadband. Later on they are using a 12 Million dollar government grant to fund this, with Faye Stewart on the committee.

 

From page 320, (fourth page of this section), has

“ FY 03-04 Total FTE 411.50, FY 06-07(adopted) 387.35. with

EXPENDITURES:

Personnel Services FY 03-04 29,858,520 FY 06-07 37,639,994”

Less employees more money. 7 million dollars more.

“Resource Carryover FY 05-06 3,116,563”  Which would indicate that they budgeted 3 million more than they spent. This is why you need to look at actual numbers instead of “proposed budget”.

 

“Special Revenue Fund $6,102,431 appears in FY 06-07(adopted) whereas the

general fund in FY 03-04 was 41,147,451    FY 05-06 was 46,169,987 and

 FY 06-07(adopted) drops down to 41,748,730”

When they transferred 6 million out of general fund to special revenue fund, watch that they do not ask to get it restored to general fund by taxing you.

 

Page 331(15 of section)

“Sheriff’s Office: Police Services” which includes “County Law Enforcement”” EXPENDITURES BY FUND

 

“General Fund FY 03-04 16,730,304 FY 04-05 16,601,591 FY 05-06 16,227,850

FY 06-0712,263,653”

 

“Special Revenue Fund FY 03-04 0 FY 04-05  0 FY 05-06 0 FY 06-07 4,575,788”

Funds Total 03-04-17,497,925 FY 04-05-17,306,843 FY 05-06-17,163,908

FY 06-07-17,710,928 “

“Total FTE 132.00 125.00 127.00 127.00”

 

Less personnel and no drop in funds. But you can say they are receiving less from general fund.

 

From 337(21 of section)

“Permanent Operating Salaries 18,157,590  18,326,402  20,400,178  20,362,078”

 

From 332(16 of section)

“Police Records $1,424,283  $1,464,620  $1,886,515  $2,018,439”

 

 

From 328 (12 of section)

“Capacity continues to be a primary challenge for the Corrections Division. Ninety-six beds are unavailable at the jail due to lack of resources. The Division currently has 499 beds at the main jail, 403 are open. The federal cap requires the county to hold capacity at 375. The Forest Work Camp currently has capacity for 125 beds but unless facility improvements are made, can only house 95. The Community Corrections Center has 116 beds, all of which are staffed and available. Corrections runs an electronic surveillance program of 40 bracelets. Occasionally it is increased, but best practices dictate 40 as an optimum number to manage. There are 421 participants in the Community Service Program. There are currently 274 offenders in the Inmate Road Crew Program, which has space for 24 inmates per day on the weekdays and 36 inmates per day on the weekends. There are usually 4-7 overflow inmates per day that sit in the Sherman Center because of lack of space. Approximately 4,000 inmates are released from jail early due to lack of capacity.”

 

It appears that electronic surveillance could increase and allow police to identify if crimes are being committed by repeat offender. Add very stiff penalty for committing crime with “bracelet” on. Liquor Store robbed at 1am, Fred at Liquor Store at 1 am, talk to Fred.

Buzz, you're a news-person, you've reported on this stuff, why don't you answer the idiots who continue to say you have no crime problem in Eugene/Springfield/Lane County?

I'm not a news person.  I work at the television station, but I do not work in the news department.  My job with the web site is to help facilitate the community section.  I can pass information onto our news department.

Maybe Halo is a criminal.