Bleeding Blue By: Sheriff Gabe Fabrizio
Bleeding Blue
By: Sheriff Gabe Fabrizio
June 6, 2023
I wanted to take a moment and share with you, my bosses, the work we have been doing to improve public safety in Coos County. Over the past six months we have experienced a lot of successes, and some difficulties as we move forward under my term as Sheriff. First, I want to express the pride I have for my staff, they have been working hard to implement the vision we have for the Office, and we have been having some fun in doing it. As I always like to end things on a good note, I am going to share with you some of the challenges we have been experiencing and then share with you some of the successes.
The past six months have not been without their challenges. As many of you know, Measure 114 may dictate a large amount of unfunded mandates to the office when it comes to the permitting of firearms. While this measure is being challenged in both the federal and state courts, it would be imprudent of the Office to not consider how we would conduct this permitting and, more importantly financially support it. We are looking at software options which would allow you, the public, to schedule times to do the permitting, and assist with payment options and so forth which could be done on line. We have not yet implemented this as we are waiting to see what is going to happen in both state and federal courts with this measure.
Recently, the medical provider for our jail has informed us they intend to terminate their relationship with not only our county, but several other throughout the state of Oregon. This created difficulties for Coos County Sheriff’s Office to provide required medical services within the jail for all inmates. The county has been paying a little over one million dollars per year for this service. This is not without a silver lining as we have likely found a replacement company to take over this vital service to the jail with little to no added cost.
We have been working diligently to get our jail back open to 98 beds. The Coos County Jail is currently funded to support 98 beds; however, the difficulty lies in hiring and retaining qualified personnel. We have hired several people into the Office, however, with the attrition rate, it often seems we are just breaking even. Since January 1, 2023, we have had several people leave the office either to retirement, or more prevalently to higher paying jobs. While we strive to offer a fair pay rate and benefits, our Deputies are payed ten percent below the average within the state of Oregon and our Sergeants are about eighteen percent below the average. The deputies we have are the folks who are invested in our community, they want to be here, they are proud of our office and our community and we are lucky to have them. However, when it comes to hiring it is a challenge to compete with other agencies, even within our own county.
Coos County recently completed a budget process which revealed a 2.68 million dollar shortfall between the cost of doing business and the funds which are available. To put this in perspective, property taxes for the county bring in about 6.5 million dollars; the Jail alone costs about 7 million to operate per year. The Criminal Division which houses our patrol deputies, contracts, detectives and records operates around 4 million dollars and the Administrative Division which houses Dispatch, Civil and Animal Control operates at about 2.5 million dollars. The cost of doing business is high. Much of
these funds are tied up in insurance, personnel and equipment costs. Remaining costs are gained through grants and contract programs, for which we are very thankful.
Our state legislature often gives us mandates with no way of funding them. For example, the office is now required to become accredited by July of 2026, which will cost the county about $6000 per year just for the accreditation. This does not calculate in the personnel and equipment costs associated with getting the office to the point where we meet the requirements. I certainly have no issue with ensuring we meet a standard, but am worried about the time and resources needed to annotate what we are already accomplishing or working towards.
The Criminal Division is also short staffed. Currently we are running two Deputies per shift who are responsible for handling calls throughout the county. I am sure you can see and understand the difficulties there. Ideally, we would want to afford time for our deputies to spend more time on calls, investigating them and bringing offenders to justice. However, I share their frustration in the sense that it seems we spend a lot of time just taking the calls which are consistently stacking up behind us. I want to provide a better service to this county and we can only do that by continuing to hire and get people in patrol cars.
From my perspective, the biggest internal challenge we have is in hiring and retaining personnel due to our wage scale. But, as you can see, this is a complicated problem that we are working through. We are bleeding our blue out to other agencies in the county and the state and it is something we are going to need to figure out to keep these qualified people here in Coos County. Thankfully, the commissioners are huge advocates of public safety, and are we are working together towards solutions.
One of the biggest external challenges we have remains to be the ready access to illicit drugs, and the lack of prosecutorial capability due to Measure 110. We have formed and are forming increased ways and means to fight against the incursion of drugs which are severely harming our county. This is an ongoing priority that we simply cannot let lay idle.
I don’t want to leave you with simply negative concepts, so lets talk about some of our successes. We have worked with our local agency partners and have opened the jail up for booking. While this is not a perfect solution as we would really like to house people who commit crimes, it is a step forward. Our peace officers now have a way to remove people who commit crimes from the situation they are in and bring a consequence.
We have had some success in hiring. Currently we have three patrol deputies attending the state Law Enforcement Academy in Salem. By all accounts they are doing well and we look forward to getting them back in September. We have another Deputy who will be leaving for the academy this coming July with a return date in November. We have several corrections deputies who have been hired and we have some in the hiring process for whom we have high hopes. I will take a moment and promote our office in saying that we are hiring, if you are interested in a career in Law Enforcement, please apply!
The Office recently completed a complete audit of our evidence room which revealed some issues, but the great news is that this process provides a path forward and makes us more efficient in our processing of evidence. Our county commission has been very supportive of the office and we made it through our budget process efficiently.
One of the items I am excited about is our wellness program. Captain Sanborn has applied for a federal grant which will financially supplement this program which focuses on the physical, mental and spiritual well being of our staff, their family members and retirees for two years post retirement. The rigors of law enforcement are demanding and my staff frequently have to experience and see things on a regular basis which are traumatic. We are developing and refining our peer support program and have partnered with a company which will provide culturally competent clinicians to counsel staff on a telehealth platform. I am excited for this as it takes care of the people who take care of you.
One of my priorities has been to bring a different level of transparency to you. To let my bosses, the public, know what I am doing. To that end, we have assigned the duties of Public Information Officer to Sergeants Adam Slater and Chris Gill. These men have done a phenomenal job of pushing information out to the public to let them know what is going on and more importantly what we are doing about it. This is a program which we are going to continue to develop as time goes on. I want to provide you with timely, relevant and informative content which you can use to understand what my office is doing for you. I view our efforts in this arena as a large success and am glad to be able to bring this information to you for your perusal.
In closing, I am very proud to be your Sheriff. I am, as I hope you are, proud of this office and what it means and stands for within our community. There is something special about being Sheriff in that it is the only law enforcement position written into the state constitution. We are working hard to continue to build and bring you the law enforcement services you deserve and need. If ever you wish to contact me, please stop by the office, or say hi to me when I am out and about. My email address is gfabrizio@co.coos.or.us. The coffee is always on in my office, though I cannot vouch for it’s quality! It is an honor to serve you.
- Sheriff Gabriel J. Fabrizio