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Part-time enforcement leaves big gaps Mail Tribune photos / Jim Craven Gold Hill resident Chris Clark, standing behind the counter of his Gold Hill Market and Deli, above, says the city�s contract for police services is not working. "Unless you�re bleeding, the (Jackson County) sheriff�s department won�t come." Gold Hill asks community to decide future of town policing By Jill Briskey GOLD HILL � Resident and businessman Chris Clark is a man with many concerns about local crime, and not a lot of time on his hands. Standing behind the counter of Gold Hill Market and Deli � famous for its old-fashioned burgers � Clark talks about the difficulties he faces in a city plagued with law enforcement problems. "We need better law enforcement. Period. Bottom line," he said. "Unless you�re bleeding, the (Jackson County) sheriff�s department won�t come." Council prepares questions Gold Hill city officials want to gauge the community�s feelings about the type and level law enforcement being offered, as well as inform residents of other options. Members of the Public Safety Committee hope to develop a questionnaire that would be distributed with February�s water bill. Two meetings will be held to decide what questions to ask. The community is invited to attend both events. A soda and popcorn social is slated for 6 p.m. Thursday at Patrick Elementary School. The Public Safety Committee will meet Jan. 24 in City Hall at 6:30 p.m. Every day at work, Clark said, he remains by the phone in case of trouble. He worries about the safety of his female employees who work at night and wonders how to chase down the customers who write bad checks. The city contracts with the sheriff�s department for $61 an hour, with charges accruing while deputies respond to a call. But recent staffing shortages have led the county to cut services. Now deputies handle only emergency calls. Hoping to find out exactly what the community wants in terms of law enforcement, the City Council has scheduled a soda and popcorn social Thursday. Although Clark said his job keeps him too busy to attend meetings, he would like to see accountability, availability and integrity. "The ideal solution is a small-town cop who cares, one who lives here and knows the ins and outs," he added That�s an expectation the sheriff�s department cannot fulfill, said Deputy Larry Walters. "We�re not any more Gold Hill�s cops than anyone else in the valley," he said. "We don�t have the manpower to make our work into a community policing issue, as much as we would like to." Walters said Gold Hill is part of Beat 8 � also known as north county. A deputy assigned to Beat 8 will patrol the area from Highway 238 near the Black Bird Center to the Josephine County line and from North Ross Lane to Sams Valley. There�s no time for deputies to walk around the city or respond in person to many of the residents� complaints, Walters said. Lower priority calls are handled over the phone. The city�s decision to contract with the sheriff�s department in February 2000 has already wiped out the $69,000 budgeted for public safety, said City Recorder Tony Paxton. With the contract, deputies have agreed to increase patrols through town and give Gold Hill priority when two similar calls from the area come in. On Jan. 8, the council voted to transfer $10,000 from its contingency fund to public safety in order to pay for the contract until the end of the fiscal year. The City Council had hoped to use a $140,000 COPS grant awarded in August 1997 from the Department of Justice, Paxton said. Paxton said the federal grant would have paid for "one and a half" officers for the city�s police department. Council members had hoped to pay the sheriff�s department with the grant but were unable to do so, he added. Paxton said the city can reapply for the grant, perhaps to pay the sheriff�s department to hire a deputy specifically for the area � if that�s what residents want. "Right now, we need to figure out what the people want. That�s the goal," Paxton said. That�s also the goal of the recently formed public safety committee. Made up of residents and City Council members, the group�s goal is to help create a safe community by providing for full-time law enforcement. The committee will meet this month to create a questionnaire that will be passed out to community members, asking what they would like in terms of law enforcement, according to council member Christine Alford. And there are many options, she adds, such as reinstating the city�s police department in September, entering into a permanent contract with the sheriff�s department at a flat rate, or contracting with another law enforcement agency. "We�re starting from ground zero," she said. "Now that we�ve had the sheriff�s department in here, we want the decision of law enforcement to be up to the community." Paxton hopes to see residents get involved. After all, he adds, it�s their city. "We�re kind of in one of those Catch-22 situations without knowing what level of service the town wants," Paxton said. "The council�s position is to be there to help but they�re really trying to get the citizens involved." Reach reporter Jill Briskey at 776-4485, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.