Josephine County Sheriff Patrols Down, Concealed Weapons Up

The number of concealed weapons permits is up as the Josephine County Sheriff's Office is forced to cut patrols. The new county budget kicked in Tuesday.

The Sheriff's Office has been busy shuffling positions to cover as much as they can with a shrinking budget. Without federal timber money in this year's budget the sheriff's office is down six patrol positions. Sheriff Gil Gilberston says that's a situation in which everyone loses.

"There's gonna be longer response times. There's going to be some times that there will not be a deputy on duty," says Gilbertson.

The 20 percent budget cut will also drop the number of beds in the jail from their peak of 140 beds in 2007 to right around 100. With potentially more criminals on the streets and slower response times from law enforcement, Sheriff Gilbertson has been educating people about what they can legally do to protect themselves and their property.

"People need to start looking out for each other. You need to look out for your neighbors. When law enforcement gets weak, you're gonna have to take care of each other," he says.

That's a message some county residents are taking to heart. Dave Stock and his wife are shopping for handguns. They say they hope they'll never use them, but will have them if they're needed.

"You can't call time out, I just called law enforcement. Can you wait here till they get here? You know, I mean in a perfect world that'd be great. You know, you could sit down and have a cup of coffee before he assaults you," says Stock.

Stock says this is the first time he's considered owning a gun since he left the military nearly two decades ago.

"It's a change of thought because for a long time, like I say, I haven't wanted a gun. Now it's making more and more sense."

Meanwhile, Sheriff Gilbertson says his office will make do.

"We're gonna do the best we can with what we have. You know, since I took office that's the way we operate."

The Sheriff's Office says more and more people are getting concealed weapons permits. They say they've already issued about six hundred permits this year, which is as many as they normally do in an entire year.

We also talked to a number of gun shop owners in Josephine County. Some say business has been steady. Others say they've seen an increase in gun sales, but can't say if that's because of cuts at the Sheriff's Office.