Baker City Police Chief optimistic about staffing; urges City to secure funding
By Joe Hathaway on Wednesday, February 21st, 2024 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER CITY — Months after a lack of officers forced Baker City Police Chief Ty Duby to cut back patrols, he says the situation is on the up and up.
Duby says the department has recently filled three positions out of four that have been open for quite some time.
“We’ve had a flurry of applicants, which is unusual and I don’t know what to attribute it to, but it’s been nice,” said Duby.
He says two of the new officers are lateral, meaning they came from different agencies and are certified, which means they can quickly begin patrolling Baker City streets. The third hire is new and will have to undergo training at a police academy.
The department has been dealing with staffing issues for a significant amount of time. It reached a point where last November, Duby announced that the department would end 24-hour patrols.
Duby says since ending around-the-clock patrols, it hasn’t caused too noteworthy of issues.
“It really hasn’t been too problematic, other than supervisors having to be on call every night,” said Chief Duby. “It’s a pain in that respect, but we haven’t had anything crazy happen.”
Even with staffing issues being slowly resolved, Duby says funding for the department is still a major concern. The city budget for the current fiscal year, which began in July 2023, covers the department to fund 15 officers. But according to a projection from the city, the budget for the next fiscal year that begins in July of 2024 faces a nearly $1 million shortfall.
The city council recently approved a new tax levy to be put on the May ballot to help fund the police and fire departments. The new levy will be discussed at the next council meeting on February 27th, as well as other possible revenue sources for police.
“I hope something happens and they’re going to have to figure it out quickly. Just to maintain a fully staffed police force with 15 sworn officers will be a million a year,” said Duby. “I think it’s pretty clear that they need to come up with a million dollars just to maintain that 15 and if they wanted to increase it at all, they’re gonna come up with some more.”
