Budget Blues Buffet Alameda County Sheriff's Office

Financial times are grim at the Alameda County Sheriff's Office.

That was the news Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern delivered during a marathon budget meeting with the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in Oakland Tuesday.

The purpose of the hearing was to air concerns over how statewide realignments would impact local service providers, from Public Works to Child Support.

But for the Sheriff's Office, which serves as the lone police force in the unincorporated communities, things are likely to slip from bad to worse.  

Last year alone, the agency cut 22 positions from its Law Enforcement Services Division, a move that hit the Eden Township Substation with significant force. 

"By cutting these 22 positions, services to the unincorporated areas have been severely reduced," Ahern told the supervisors. Further cuts, he said, "will have a significant impact on our ability to keep the unincorporated communities safe."

The sheriff went on to say that the reduction in staffing has coincided with an increase in violent crime, a trend he said is reflected across the country. 

"It's the trend in Alameda County, in L.A., in Detroit—every time we decrease the number of patrol staff, we increase the amount of violent crime," Ahern said. "If we reduce our staff more, we’re going to have more violent crime."

A reduced staff also hems in the agency's ability to bust meth labs and illegal indoor marijuana grows, both of which have increased significantly in the past few years, he said. 

Currently, the agency is staffed at just 0.92 officers for every 1,000 residents, well short of the recommended ratio and far below other local agencies, which are also understaffed, Ahern said. 

 Other units within the agency have been similarly hit.

The County Coroner, a subdivision of the Sheriff's Office, saw reductions that have led to increased wait times for autopsies and body removals. The agency handles about 1,000 autopsies annually and up to 450 body removals each month.

But by far the biggest impact has been to the Office's Detention and Corrections unit, among services expected to be hit hard be realignment at the state level. 

In 2010, the division lost 28 positions. 

Due to staffing shortages, Santa Rita Jail now faces rolling lock-downs. Inmate visits must be scheduled through an online appointment system. A video conference system that allowed for remote arraignments has been eliminated, and transportation to the courts has also been cut. 

Worse, inmate-to-officer ratios are now at an all-time high—328 inmates to each deputy, with a single deputy assigned to a housing unit once patrolled by four. 

Though Sacramento has yet to hammer out the details of realignment, the sheriff projected the department would lose yet more money, a situation that could lead to tough choices.

"There's still a lot of work that needs to be done to make sure we get adequate funding," said District 3 Supervisor Wilma Chan.