The State of Oregon budget woes and funding crunch are especially notable when it comes to public safety, warned Wallowa County law enforcement officials during a recent meeting of the countys Local Public Safety Coordinating Council-LPSCC. The council is considering the cost savings and potential benefits of reduced jail beds and of taking over the supervision of the countys felony offenders, a duty now contracted out to Union County.

The Wallowa County Sheriffs Office has been notified by the State of Oregon to expect a funding cut of about $40,000 per year to the community correction/parole and probation program for the two-year 2011-2012 budget. LPSCC met July 18 to discuss a plan for dealing with the funding cut. There are currently 37 felony offenders from Wallowa County either under supervision in the county or incarcerated in the Union County Jail.

During the 2009-2010 biennium, Wallowa County received $245,000 from the State of Oregon that went toward incarcerating and supervising the countys felony offenders.

Presently, Wallowa County contracts with Union County to obtain eight jail beds and to have Union County supervise Wallowa Countys felony offenders during their probation or parole period. The contract provides a parole and probation officer from Union County to supervise released offenders one day per week onsite in Wallowa County.

While LPSCC members say the offender supervision provided by Union County under the currently serving officer has improved, the committee discussed past problems and inconsistencies with the supervision provided, and a recidivism (repeat offender) rate among offenders termed by Sheriff Fred Steen and others as outrageous. Steen and the committee discussed possible approaches for dealing with reduced funding while addressing the high recidivism rate.

Steen says he needs to maintain an adequate number of deputies on staff to continue to provide law enforcement coverage for the county. The cuts to funding could potentially impact the sheriff offices ability to maintain a decent level of public safety to this county, Steen said. We need to have the people to respond and to provide immediate public safety. If given the choice, Id rather have the deputies than jail beds, Steen said.

Steen and LPSCC discussed lowering costs by reducing the number of jail beds and by ending the contract and taking over the supervision of Wallowa Countys offenders.

If supervision were provided locally, more officer visits could be provided to oversee offenders. Steen and members of LPSCC said the increased officer presence would lead to fewer parole and probation violations and increase the successful completion of the terms of parole and probation, thus decreasing the high recidivism rate. 

Steen also believes officers increased supervision visits would improve offender compliance with terms of their probation and reduce the number of jail beds needed. The strategy could also lower the number of offenders on the parole and probation caseload, lowering overall costs for maintaining the community corrections program.

Were certainly not going to crash, but this funding cut is the first major concrete sign that were teetering, Steen said. A cut of $40,000 a year means a lot to a small department like ours.

The sheriffs office continues to look for other sources of revenue to offset the funding loss and is working to increase funding for drug-addicted offenders using the states Measure 57 dollars and funds that could be obtained through the District Attorneys fund, according to Steen.