Loennig

BAKER CITY — Members of Baker City’s city council questioned police chief Ty Duby during their meeting Tuesday, Nov. 28, about the chief’s plan to curtail 24-hour patrols later this winter.

Duby told councilors at the Nov. 14 meeting that he will switch the patrol schedule from 12-hour to 10-hour shifts.

That likely will result in no patrols between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. daily.

If there’s a call during that period, a dispatcher will call a police supervisor at home, who will decide, based on the situation, whether to respond and potentially call in off-duty officers.

Duby said the department can’t maintain 24-hour patrols with the current workforce, which has been depleted by recent resignations.

The department is budgeted for 15 sworn officers — eight patrol officers, two patrol sergeants and one criminal sergeant, two detectives, the school resource officer and the chief. (The code enforcement officer is not a certified police officer.)

There are two vacancies for patrol officers, and Duby said two other officers might leave within a couple months for jobs with other departments. That would leave Baker City with four patrol officers, half the normal number.

Duby told councilors Nov. 28 that although 24-hour patrols are “ideal, when you’re this low on staffing, it gets hard to maintain.”

Both Duby and Sgt. Wayne Chastain, the department’s criminal sergeant who oversees the two detectives, have said previously that because of the staffing shortage, officers have to work more overtime shifts, which costs the city more money and has affected morale in the department.

Mayor Randy Daugherty expressed his concerns about the potential problems caused by ending 24-hour patrols.

“Response time, that’s a concern,” Daugherty said. “Liability. If you have a widowed lady over here and somebody breaks her front door down and we have to have a response time, what kind of liability is that?”

Daugherty also asked why police can’t reduce patrols during the day, when other police agencies are on duty, and continue to patrol all night.

Duby said he plans to curb patrols early in the morning because, based on his survey of call logs, there are fewer incidents during that period.

“If you look at when we get (the most) calls, it’s not at 4 o’clock in the morning,” Duby said. “Our day shift is by far busier than night shift. My guys would much rather work a night shift than a day shift because day shift is when people call and it’s for everything. So guys are running nonstop on day shift.”

Duby said he’s also heard concerns from the public that criminals, knowing there will be a period without officers on patrol, will take advantage, leading to a flurry of crime.

Duby said he doubts that would happen.

He told councilors that when officers move to 10-hour shifts, he will instruct them, if there are numerous calls in the hour before they’re due to end their shift at, say, 2 a.m., to continue patrols for another hour or two.

Councilor Helen Loennig asked Duby about the potential for the city to install a network of security cameras to try to deter crime.

Duby said that could be beneficial. The presence of cameras, including the doorknob cameras that are becoming increasingly popular, can help police identify suspects.

Other options

Critics of Duby’s plan to curtail 24-hour patrols, including former chief Wyn Lohner, have advocated for temporarily assigning the department’s two detectives to patrols.

Duby told councilors that happens occasionally, but he tries to avoid doing so. The reason, he said, is that detectives need to focus on investigating complicated cases, in particular sex abuse.

“We have a lot of sex abuse cases,” Duby said. “My major crimes detective, that’s pretty much all he works on. Those cases (are) very, very difficult. You have to do forensic interviews in La Grande, you have to work with DHS (Oregon Department of Human Services), there’s a lot of moving parts.”

Baker County District Attorney Greg Baxter has concurred with Duby about the importance of having detectives focus on investigations rather than patrolling.

Baxter spoke to councilors about the issue during a meeting earlier this fall. And in a Nov. 21 letter to the council, Baxter wrote about the “importance of maintaining our Detective Division at the Baker City Police Department.”

“I am concerned that if all the city’s law enforcement resources are put only into the patrol division … then the investigation of major crimes will get neglected,” Baxter wrote. “That is something that cannot happen in our community. It is my duty to sound this warning and to be crystal clear: the Baker City Police Department needs both patrol officers and detectives to achieve public safety.”

Recruiting officers

Loennig asked Duby about the prospect of hiring certified police, who have already undergone training and could start work immediately.

Officers who have to attend the state training academy might not be able to start as patrol officers for several months.

Duby said hiring experienced officers is helpful in quickly filling vacancies, but finding such officers is difficult.

Councilor Roger Coles asked Duby how the city can retain its police force.

Duby said the department promotes the quality of life in Baker City. The department’s salaries, however, are lower than in many cities.