Three new Oregon State Police troopers will be heading to Southern Oregon.
They say one of those troopers will be heading to the Central Point office.
While Grants Pass will get the other two, some welcome news.
We are very happy to get two more bodies up here, says Sgt. Jeff Proulx of Oregon State Police in Grants Pass.
Josephine County’s Sheriffs Department has been all but eliminated by drastic budget cuts, ending its patrols.
This has local OSP troopers struggling to keep up with increased demands on their time.
“I have nine assigned to this office right now, two more makes it 11, 2 being assigned to central point makes it 20 in their office, so thats good for this area, says Sgt. Proulx.
But they are still not up to patrolling 24 hours a day.
Sgt. Proulx says we run 7am to 3am in the morning, from 3am to 7am we dont have patrols, the goal is, wed like to get to 24 hours, but with our numbers the way they are right now, we arent able to do that.
Even if they fill the void and get to 24 hours, it does not make up for the lack of Josephine County Sheriff’s Deputies.
The new recruits are heading to the state’s only academy in Salem.
After that they will ride with a seasoned trooper during a field training process.
So they won’t actually see solo patrols until early next year.
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