Q: I want to know why there’s not a deputy on duty from the Coos County Sheriff’s Office between the hours of 3 and 7 (a.m.) to protect our businesses in the Bunker Hill area. There have been a lot of businesses burglarized during this time. If the excuse is the budget, why can’t something be worked out with the Coos Bay Police Department?

A: It’s true. Bunker Hill is often without service in the early hours of the morning, but it’s not the only unincorporated area in the county lacking law enforcement. Sgt. Pat Downing, of the Sheriff’s Office, said all areas serviced by the Sheriff’s Office are in the same boat. For three days a week, from 3 to 7 a.m., there are no deputies on duty for the entire county. Although he would not reveal what days are without coverage for operational purposes, he said they are typically the least active for crime.

“We try to cover the peak periods,” Downing said.

The break in coverage began last year, he said, when the county began making cuts in late February due to the loss of federal timber payment subsidies.

“The reason for this is we just don’t have enough deputies to run a 24-hour shift,” he said, noting the office has six deputies. Before the county cuts, there were 17.

Since the cuts began, the Sheriff’s Office has been unable to provide a full 24 hours of service for any day of the week and there are long periods in which only one deputy is overseeing the entire county.

“It’s usually a few hours in the morning and few toward the end (of the day)” for almost every day of the week, he said.

If dispatchers receive a report of an in-progress person crime during those hours, such as a rape, robbery or assault, a deputy can be called from his home to deal with the incident, but his response time may suffer in those situations.

Downing added that with six deputies who have to take vacations, go to court and receive other time off, the office is especially strained to offer even a limited patrol staff.

Regarding assistance from other police agencies, Downing said the Coos Bay Police Department has declined to answer calls in the Bunker Hill area, as it is experiencing budget problems of its own. However, he noted, Coos Bay Police will respond to an in-person crime and Myrtle Point, Bandon and North Bend departments, as well as Oregon State Police, will stabilize a situation before a deputy arrives.

Coos Bay Police Capt. Rodger Craddock said the county has not contracted with his department to provide services outside of Coos Bay. But, his police department does have a practice of providing backup to deputies in emergency situations.

“We are already down on personnel from where we were in 2002, so our resources are stretched pretty thin. Therefore, we have to restrict our services to the jurisdiction of Coos Bay,” he said. “It’s not a wish not to respond. It’s a matter of resources.”

Craddock said if people in unincorporated regions of the county want further coverage from law enforcement, they should contact Coos County’s commissioners and make their voices heard.

“Our citizens don’t pay for us to be in the county,” Craddock said. “We are not refusing to assist people. We are doing what we can with what we have (for) our constituents, and those are the citizens of Coos Bay.”