Citizens take law into own hands

[Reverenddel]

Citizens take law into own hands after cash-strapped Ore. county guts sheriff's office

By Stephanie McNeal
Published December 26, 2013
FoxNews.com

North Valley Community watch members prepare to check on a home.north valley community watch

When budget woes reduced the sheriff's department in one rural Oregon county to a bare-bones force, residents decided to take matters into their own hands -- creating armed patrol groups in defiance of local officials.

Their decision has raised safety concerns with the county government, which would prefer residents instead hike their own taxes to fund the hiring of trained deputies. But despite the risks, the move stands as a unique, some would say innovative, response to one of the country's most severe local budget crunches.

The government in Josephine County, where nearly 70 percent of the land is owned by the U.S. government, had long relied on federal timber subsidies to pay the bills. When the feds terminated the funds, county officials scrambled to pass a May 2012 tax levy to make up a nearly $7.5 million budget shortfall.

However, the county's residents voted against the levy, and as a result the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office was gutted. The major crimes unit closed, dozens of prisoners were released from the county jail and the department reduced operations to Monday-Friday, eight hours a day.

The Sheriff’s Office then issued a press release announcing their deputies would only be responding to what they deemed “life-threatening situations.”

Ken Selig -- who was the longest-serving law enforcement officer in all three local agencies when he was forced to retire from the department due to cuts -- told FoxNews.com he found the sheriff’s declaration unacceptable. And he felt compelled to guard his community’s vulnerable members.

“Who else is going to protect you when your government can't?” Selig said.

Selig and his friend Pete Scaglione formed the North Valley Community Watch, a county-wide organization dedicated to helping citizens in non-life-threatening situations, primarily property crimes. It is one of a handful of community groups that have formed since the cuts. Without a robust Sheriff's Office, their mission is broader than the typical neighborhood watch group.

Not only did the Sheriff's Office narrow its scope to "life-threatening" situations, but it even encouraged people who felt unsafe to relocate. “... the Sheriff's Office regretfully advises that, if you know you are in a potentially volatile situation (for example, you are a protected person in a restraining order that you believe the respondent may violate), you may want to consider relocating to an area with adequate law enforcement services,” the original release stated.

Selig's community watch group, looking to fill in the law enforcement cracks, now meets once a month to discuss crime and teach its approximately 100 members about personal safety. The group also has a trained “response team,” which consists of 12 people who will respond to the scene of a reported non-life-threatening situation if called.

Though the “response team” members do carry legal firearms, Selig said the team’s main goal is to provide a deterrent presence, and that none of them have ever fired a shot. He said those involved in his group believe there is no substitute for well-trained law enforcement, but they feel they have no other choice but to protect their community.

“We believe responsible citizens doing responsible things make it hard for criminals to do irresponsible things,” he said.

Selig believes politics are behind the county government’s decision to not funnel what funds they do have toward law enforcement. He says the county government seems to be pressuring the citizens to pass an additional tax hike they cannot afford.

“The key is to get the funding somewhere where the local people can get the services they need,” Selig said.

However, Josephine County Commissioner Keith Heck said residents of the county that opposed the tax levy need to realize there is no fat to cut.

Heck said the county has tried to live within the bounds of its fiscal realities, but citizens need to realize the options for paying for law enforcement are limited. "The county coffers are at the bottom of the barrel," he said.

Heck said though he supports neighborhood watch groups and citizens being vigilant in their community, the rise of increasingly “aggressive” community watch groups make him worried the situation could escalate to violence. Watch groups have been under increasing scrutiny nationally ever since the George Zimmerman case in Florida.

“These things seem good on the PR side but fail a little in the reality side,” Heck said.

Heck said the only real solution is for the county citizens to approve more funds.

“There is this little shimmer out there of some giant Santa that is going to come and drop all this money on us because we are well-meaning folks,” he said. “The sleigh is broken, the deer are dead, it’s not going to happen. We have to figure out how we are going to solve this problem.”
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THIS IS WHAT I HAVE ALWAYS ADVOCATED! GOING BACK TO THE ORIGINAL "LAW ENFORCEMENT"! Citizens get TRAINED by the Sheriff's department, then uses them as VOLUNTEERS covered under the county insurance, and just have "detectives" for basic crimes, and call in State for "Murder/Rape" investigations.

If you do a good background check, train them well, I think it would work out fairly well. With the advent of A/V equipment, and proper understanding of their "scope" of investigations, they cannot be any worse than NOTHING at all!

Cook County IL was the start of "modern police" where as "town cryers" were replaced with with men appointed by the magistrate to operate as an extension of that office.

[SHMIV]

If we had more of this, there would be less need for LEO, which would suit me fine.

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[skeeterss0]

Responsible citizens taking care of one another, what a concept!

[CalebDor]

Our country was founded on the belief that we can govern ourselves; and, that we don't need a mortal sovereign to tell us what we need to do to safeguard our lives or those of our neighbors.

I lament how far we, as a nation, have fallen.

Once upon a time it was customary to visit ones neighbors. Not to be nosy;but,to make sure everything was all right.
Once upon a time we didn't have our government telling us what we needed to buy.
Once upon a time you could spank your kids in public if they misbehaved.
Once upon a time you could say "Merry Christmas" and not get an incredulous look from the person you were speaking to.
Once upon a time I remember when we were a free people...

We're still free..sort of.. I guess..until the federal government says we're not because we're "Overstepping the bounds".

Screw that.

No surrender. No retreat. We lose freedom here in these United States and there will be no place to fall back to.

Be well everyone.

[MarcSpaz]

Although I strongly recommend calling the police when witnessing a crime, that may not always be enough to protect life. The Code of Virginia and established case law gives private citizens the same authority as it does the police when responding to a felony and executing a warrantless arrest.

Also, according to the book "Criminal Procedure for the Criminal Justice Professional," a citizen making an arrest can use the same amount of force as a law enforcement officer making an arrest. However, the Code of Virginia does not give immunity from civil liability. Wrongful arrest, excessive use of force, etc. can bite you in the butt if you are not careful.


In the case of "Edward Thomas WILSON v. COMMONWEALTH", Mr. Thomas was detained by a private citizen (off-duty LEO outside of his district) and subsequently arrested for a misdemeanor of "public drunkenness" and subsequently DUI by the local PD.

Thomas appealed the decision and the appeals court upheld the ruling stating that "...the off-duty officer did no more than a citizen would have been entitled to do under similar circumstances..."


Randolph v. Commonwealth...

"A private person may make a citizen's arrest, as at common law. When empowered to execute a warrant, a private citizen is clothed with the authority of a law officer while acting in this capacity."

Crosswhite v. Barnes and Randolph v. Commonwealth had roughly the same result...

One other than the officer to whom a warrant is directed may execute it if delivered to him for that purpose. This includes a private person, who may summon other private persons to assist him, although he may not delegate his authority of execution of the warrant to another private person

There are a bunch of others too...

Hudson vs. Commonwealth, Carroll v. United States, Taylor v. Commonwealth, Tharp v. Commonwealth and so on.

Keep in mind, you will have to submit all the proper paperwork to the magistrate's office and bare witness, the same any police officer would.

[Kreutz]

Citizens take law into own hands after cash-strapped Ore. county guts sheriff's office

By Stephanie McNeal
Published December 26, 2013
FoxNews.com

North Valley Community watch members prepare to check on a home.north valley community watch

When budget woes reduced the sheriff's department in one rural Oregon county to a bare-bones force, residents decided to take matters into their own hands -- creating armed patrol groups in defiance of local officials.

Sounds good to me.

Their decision has raised safety concerns with the county government, which would prefer residents instead hike their own taxes to fund the hiring of trained deputies.

"Safety" is the justification for robbing you and lording over you with your own money via trained attack dogs these days I guess.

[dorminWS]

This is what we need to do to the federal government. Cut off the money and let them contract operations to accommodate same. Which would/could have been the effect of a "shutdown", but nobody had the stomach for it. IMO, it'll never happen any other way.

Which brings me to another related topic that has been aggravating the heck out of me: The recent budget deal cutting military retirement benefits. What needs to happen is that ALL federal retirement benefits - INCLUDING THOSE OF LEGISLATORS need to take an EQUAL cut to meet whatever deficit forced that cut in the eyes of the budget dealmakers. Absolutely no excuse for cutting military retirement and leaving the federal bureaucrats and legislators who didn't/don't go in harm's way (and generally threaten rather than protect our liberty) with full benefits.

[VACoastie]

Just do away with every member of congress. Start over.

That's as nice as I can keep it. I'd rather go on a tangent but that's gonna require colorful language I don't want to use here.

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[Remek]

I think all fed govt did lose benefits, except the elected officials.

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