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Private firms protecting Josephine County Monday Feb 27, 2017 at 12:01 AM By Lisa Whiting of the Daily Courier It is an unusual alliance for an unusual county. On Tuesday, four local companies that have no shortage of business will hold a community safety forum at the Fruitdale Grange to introduce themselves as SOSA — the Southern Oregon Safety Alliance. SOSA is a partnership comprised of Rural/Metro Fire Department, Concierge Home and Business Watch, SOS Alarm and American Medical Response ambulance service. All four private companies are looking to fill in the gaps caused by the lack of normal public safety services in Josephine County. Among other reasons, the county is unusual because it does not have 24-hour sheriff's patrols. On top of that, large portions of the county outside of Grants Pass are not protected by public fire districts. Instead, in a setup that is unique in Oregon, Rural/Metro competes with another private company for business in rural areas. The SOSA partnership formed last year, but was in a wait-and-see mode — waiting to see if the latest in a string of public safety levies passed or failed in November's election. Jes Webb, public information officer for Rural/Metro, said the idea behind the alliance is simple. "In firefighting, there are many mutual aid agreements" with other departments, he said. "We felt we should be incorporating relationships in the private sector as we do in the public sector." Rural/Metro Chief Phil Turnbull said the idea grew out of discussions between his staff and Julie Thomas at Concierge. "I'm not sure who it was that had the 'aha moment,'" Turnbull said. "It was a matter of analyzing what's going on in the county and arriving at a decision that we wanted to be supportive of the Sheriff's Office and help out the community by pooling our resources." "Concierge has been impacted the most by the law enforcement situation in the county." Thomas, president and CEO of Concierge, said the alliance became more strategic after the failure of the latest public safety levy in November. That levy was the latest of five that voters have rejected since 2012, the year budget cuts forced deep layoffs at the Sheriff's Office. Five years later, sheriff's patrols are conducted only about 10-12 hours a day. Rural residents must rely on the Oregon State Police when there are no sheriff's deputies available. Concierge offers a variety of services, including around the clock high-visibility patrols, alarm response and home watch services. Thomas has 45 patrol staff, with backgrounds in law enforcement, military and first response. All are state certified and licensed to carry weapons. Thomas said Concierge is sometimes asked to perform welfare checks when law enforcement is not available. The company has to immediately get a release signed before staff can enter the property of someone who is not under contract. "We identify and leverage each other's resources, decide who is better equipped to handle a call. We support law enforcement in everything we do," Thomas said. "When our clients call 911 and law enforcement can't respond, we do. We get there and assess the situation. We are their eyes and ears on the ground." Prior to the alliance, Rural/Metro already had a working relationship with SOS Alarm, responding to calls from its subscribers' monitored fire alarms. SOS Alarm's Suzanne Wood has been working with Concierge since 2009 after connecting with Thomas through the Grants Pass & Josephine County Chamber of Commerce. "The Sheriff's Office hasn't had the resources to respond to property crimes for the last six years," said Wood. "Concierge shows up 100 percent of the time when dispatched to burglary alarms at homes of our shared clients." Locally owned SOS Alarm has been in business 49 years and has grown every year except during the construction slump in 2008. "Growth has been driven by crime the last five to six years," said Wood. "After each failed safety levy attempt, our phones start to ring."