PORTLAND, Ore. — A severe staffing shortage at the Clark County Sheriff’s Office has many residents concerned for their safety. Three months ago, the sheriff's office was forced to cut down on services and stop responding to some low-level crimes such as certain thefts and trespassing.
Since then, they’ve been able to hire 11 people but lost 24 more. It’s a situation that’s rapidly getting worse.
“That is detrimental as you can just imagine,” said Clark County Sheriff Chuck Atkins
Signs posted around Clark County advertise that they have the lowest-staffed police agency in the state and the lowest law enforcement-to-citizen ratio in the country.
“It hurts at times but I totally understand because it is a compensation, it’s a wage thing,” said Sheriff Atkins.
In the last six months, Sheriff Atkins has lost 20 deputies to other local law enforcement agencies offering competitive incentives such as sign-on bonuses.
“When people locally look to go onto a police department for the first time and they see that I’m not offering a signing bonus and somebody else is, they immediately go elsewhere,” he said.
They currently have 70 openings but even if filled, he said it’s still not enough to be competitive. It takes 12-18 months to hire and train new officers.
“If we’re full and had all of those people in place, we still are the least staffed per thousand residents of any county in the state of Washington,” he said.
“I think it’s absolutely disgusting,” said long-time resident Denny Anderson.
“People speed because they can, they break laws because they can,” said Jack Thompson. His neighbor recently shot and killed someone who was trying to break into their house because police were unable to respond right away.
“I have two loaded weapons now at all times — front door and back door,” Thompson added.
It’s a safety measure more and more residents are now taking.
“It’s unbelievable, it’s unbelievable,” Anderson said. “I know it’s not the existing sheriff's department, they’ve got their hands tied behind their back.”
In response to the resident's concerns, Sheriff Atkins said, "
“I feel for them but what I can tell them is the sheriff’s office is well trained,” Sheriff Atkins said in response to residents' concerns.
But some county residents, like Randy Tefft, said they have not noticed crime getting any worse amid the staffing shortage.
“I think they’re doing a great job," Tefft said. "If you hadn’t brought it to my attention, I wouldn’t have paid attention to it. I mean I just think they do a wonderful job."
The sheriff is now looking for the public’s support on a tax increase that will soon be on the August ballot to bring more money to county law enforcement to help them retain and attract staff.