Meet Sheriff Gilbertson
MEET JOSEPHINE COUNTY SHERIFF, GIL GILBERTSON.
A BUSY MAN WITH A DEFINITE MISSION.
“Gil” is not a big man in stature. If you have never met him, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. First off, he is unassuming, definitely unlike the top cops you see on the plasma. His smile is genuine and his hand shake is firm. The Sheriffs office is clean, but not pretentious in any sense of the word. His desk is busy with documents, memos and letters. John Wayne’s picture is proudly displayed over the chief’s desk displaying a definite look of approval.
The Sheriff’s day starts very early. In country vernacular, before the rooster crows. A day in the life of JoCo’s Sheriff is not that much different than some other small county sheriffs, except he does it with an extremely narrow budget. Due to lack of county funds and the recent loss of about five department positions, you’ll find Gilbertson’s hands on many day-to-day duties that most chiefs are able to delegate to a subordinate, thereby allowing more time for the department head to take on more important law enforcement issues.
“Back in the year 2000, we had a total of 118 deputies and the county was working quite well, in terms of law enforcement. Since then we have been whittled down to just 86 positions and I just cut 5 more the other day,” complained the frustrated sheriff. “Everything we do for the county’s safety is based upon the personnel we have. The more people we have the more service we can provide.” Gilbertson continues,” Back in1981, Josephine County decided they needed 25 cents per thousand dollars of assessed property evaluation to operate the county government. In 1995, it was decided they needed 33 cents per thousand dollars of property evaluation to run the libraries. In 1997, Measure 50 permanently fixed those two amounts together at 58 cents per thousand.”
Gilbertson explained that JoCo’s growing population actually pays $52 Million dollars in taxes per year which for most part goes to the state of Oregon. He went on to explain, “What’s left over, which amounts to about 6% or $3 Million, is to operate our county government.” The sheriff’s office gets about 60% of that, or $1.8 Million. The jail alone cost taxpayers over $4 Million to keep open.” Where does the needed funds come from? Gilbertson said his office did some search and rescue work by requesting over a million dollars in grant monies to help defray operational costs, but has received only $143,000 to date. “These are temporary funds, with no assurances, and certainly not the way to run a railroad or a sheriff’s office. “And,” he added, “O&C money is a thing of the past”.
Gilbertson said his office is down to 81 positions due to cut backs and trained personnel leaving. “Since, 1990, our department has gone through 98 people. Training costs average approximately $100,000 per person. By the time you recruit, do the necessary testing, finish their training, bring them home, suit them up, go through their field officers program, it all takes about 18 months. What we turned into is a training facility for other law enforcement agencies. Fourteen people have left the sheriff’s department to work for the city”, complained Gilbertson… “People left due to not knowing if they will keep their jobs with the county?” The sheriff was asked to have the new recruits sign a contract. “It isn’t legal”, Gilbertson explained.
He said the Sheriff’s Association is working on that, but as of now, the contract idea can’t be enforced.
The Sheriff explains the results of too few deputies and a weaker law enforcement agency; “We either have slow or no response to traffic accidents and drugs is a serious problem, we issue less traffic tickets, and fewer warnings. We are overwhelmed with calls for service. Crime statistics are under reported, due to our lack of response. I have 700 cases since 2007 that haven’t been entered into our computers. We just don’t have the personnel to do it. Crime is much worse in Josephine County than is reported. Accidents are increasing. Alarms, burglaries and property crimes have increased dramatically. Meth lab reports are down, but we lost 32 deputies about the same time as meth lab reports were decreasing. We need deputies to get out there and do the research.”
Gilbertson says that weak law enforcement means insurance rates could go up, property values could come down, community growth stagnates, and the area becomes a magnate for criminals. “We have intercepted telephone calls and letters from our inmates inviting their friends to come to Josephine County as there is no law enforcement. That should scare a lot of people. It does us”, warned the sheriff. “We need pro-active law enforcement”, claims Gilbertson.
Sheriff Gilbertson’s program is to engage pro-active law enforcement tactics obtained through directed patrols based on analysis of collected data, which means you identify the problems through forecasting and analysis. He says, you can forecast what your crime is going to be, where it’s going to be and who’s doing it. The sheriff says they are now targeting and going after those issues as best as they can and seeing some results using this approach. Sheriff Gilbertson states, “If we only react to crime, we’re never going to get there. If we can aggressively go after crime, once we identify the area, the problem, the people and the time, we could target those things and that throws the bad guys off. We are engaged in this activity now and it’s showing positive results. We need funds to hire the people, and keep; them, to make this the success it can be. If we don’t get additional funding by July 1, 2010, we’ll have to close our doors. We’re going to have to. $3 Million can not run this county. This is a statewide issue. There are 18 counties in the same situation.”
If you would like more information on the current financial problems of concern to the sheriff’s department, or more information on the sheriff’s plan of pro-active law enforcement, please call the Sheriff’s Office at (541) 474-5123.
Gilbertson’s energy seems endless. He appears in complete control of his office and its activities, and is considerate of his people. I saw him again a couple of days after our interview at the Meth Summit in Grants Pass and he knew me from Adam. He probably never forgets a face?
I drove very carefully back home to Williams. -Mike Case
