Sheriff Terry Maketa says budget cuts have forced them to lay off deputies
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- If you have ever been the victim of a crime, you know how important police response is.
Due to recent budget cuts the El Paso County Sheriff's Office is having trouble responding to those in need.
The sheriff's office suffered a cut of $1.3 million dollars for 2009. In total 24 positions were eliminated, including six patrol deputies and four detective positions.
"About three in the morning my wife and I were woken up by a phone call. We found out from a neighbor we had an individual walking up the street knocking on doors, not just knocking but pounding on doors," Scott Miller said.
Miller lives in the Gleneagle development in north Colorado Springs. He said it took deputies nearly two hours to respond to his neighbors 9-1-1 call.
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office does not deny its slow response.
"Our patrol deputies' desire is to get to every call as fast as they can. The reality is with the increasing calls for service, the growth in Eastern El Paso County and what we saw in Black Forest, the community is spread out more and our patrol forces have not kept up, it is going to take us longer," Sheriff Terry Maketa said.
Maketa said ballot issue 1A's failure in November has only made things worse.
"That is what 1A would have funded, an additional 40 positions for patrol," Maketa said.
He said he understands where citizens are coming from and added he has no choice but to prioritize calls for help.
"You might find yourself waiting an hour or two for something that is very important to you, and that is very much a priority, but when you compare it to other calls in the community it falls down on the priority list to other crimes in progress," Maketa said.
He said areas like Gleneagle and Black Forest statistically do experience longer waits.
As for Miller and his neighbors, their situation luckily turned out to be nothing serious.
"If it had been someone trying to break into a neighbor's house and do them harm, then an hour, hour-and-a-half response time is pretty sorry," Miller said.
The sheriff encourages residents to sign up and volunteer for citizen patrols. To learn more click here.
Click on the movie camera/video icon to view the story as it aired on FOX 21 News.
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