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they release under 4,000 offenders a year who have either not completed their sentence or have not gone to trial yet. He asked the question on February 28 about what is going on with property crime in Lane County for unincorporated Lane County. He noted between January 1 and February 28, they had 1,056 burglaries reported and 1,107 thefts. He said they had lost their burglary investigator from budget cuts last year. He added that the 1NET Enforcement Team was also a victim of budget cuts. He stated they have a large meth problem. He said they no longer have a County-City Metro Swat Team. He added they also do not have any resident deputies in Florence, Cottage Grove, Blue River or up the McKenzie. He said their department has 4,620 square miles to cover and currently on swing shift he has two deputies on patrol to cover the entire county. He noted the cities of Eugene and Springfield pay rent for jail beds because they have people they want to keep in custody. He thought the service district could pay for that. He said that Springfield is discussing building a municipal jail. He said they have the money to build it but they cannot operate it. He thought the service district could pay for that. He said it was adding capacity to the system., but even if they had the 119 empty jail beds full it would still be too small for their needs for a county this size. He wanted to get together to resolve this. Alex Gardner, Deputy District Attorney, reported that in the past 25 years, their case volume had doubled. He said they prosecute all of the felonies in the jurisdiction because their office has exclusive jurisdiction over felony crimes in Lane County. He said they also have jurisdiction over misdemeanor cases that take place outside of the municipal areas. He said his office will receive 8,000 cases this year. He said at the time the caseload has doubled, they have had 30% reduction in prosecution staff in the criminal division. He added they have gone from 11 investigators in the criminal division to one. He said the Deputy District Attorneys have to do more of their own legwork. He commented that the system was being rendered less efficient even as the demand grows. He said between 60% and 70% of the people they are prosecuting on felony crimes are doing the crimes in Eugene and Springfield. He commented it is the people inside the municipalities who will end up paying most of the penalty. He said their office is currently failing to file close to 100 cases per month, as they don't have the District Attorneys to do it anymore. He said they were taking most of the felony drug crimes and turning them into infractions. He said it means the community index crime rate is soaring. He said it was a problem that couldn't wait indefinitely. Lisa Smith, Department of Youth Services, stated she represents the Juvenile Department for Lane County. She added the services they provide are not duplicated by any other agency within Lane County, the Cities of Eugene or Springfield. She said they are the authorized juvenile justice provider. She said they receive approximately 3,800 referrals per year. She added of those, 42% come from the City of Eugene, 27% come from the City of Springfield and the others come from the remainder of the County. She noted at no time do the cities receive a monthly accounting showing how much residential services were used. She said that had been an expense that has been held by the County. She said the Juvenile Department's mission is to hold youth accountable, locking up the juvenile offenders who pose the greatest risk to the community and they want to provide treatment so juveniles leave the system with more skills than when they entered. She Page 6 - Joint Elected Officials Meeting - 7:00 p.m. - April 19, 2005 WD bc/m/05043/m