Believe it: County is in crisis.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Douglas Hooley For The Register-Guard

Over the years, I have heard many say, "See, I told you so; Lane County always cries wolf about being out of money and then tries to hold the public hostage by threatening to shut down the jail and discontinue rural patrol. Then they always seem to pull something out of the hat."

Meanwhile, nothing in the hat is to be found, another wing of the jail closes and 72 "wolves" are quietly released to the street.

Others say, "The county just needs to use the money that it has better. County officials are always begging, yet seem to have enough."

Then, the sheriff's road crew goes from holding 300 criminals accountable to around 100 because of funding cutbacks. Meanwhile, the blackberries grow through the guardrails and the trash piles up alongside county roads.

At the same time, 21 beds are closed at the Community Corrections Center and more criminals are released unsupervised into the community. The number of criminals on each probation officer's case load creeps up to almost twice the national average. I receive a call from the grieving father of a murdered son who can't understand why the man accused of that crime was out of custody on a release agreement while a shoplifter remains in custody. The answer: Because a local city is paying rent for the jail bed that the shoplifter is in, and that is who the city wants occupying it.

You read it in the letters to the editor and hear opponents of taxes for law enforcement say, "I am so tired of listening to the politicians say we don't have any money - and then they always find a way to pay for things when we don't give them any more."

But then, just two weeks ago, another 84 jail beds were closed down due to lack of funding.

On the news we heard that two people accused of aggravated assault after shooting a man in the head were being considered for release due to jail overcrowding. What didn't make the news was that another man, since convicted and sentenced for murdering his estranged wife, was also in range for release. This was because his risk of being a danger to the community, when compared with everyone else in custody, was about the same: high.

Who was released instead? A guy accused of a home invasion robbery and dozens of his cellmates: identity thieves, car thieves, pedophiles, burglars, and people who supply your kids with drugs.

On a "good day," when releases from the jail due to overcrowding are few, and even though we use an objective risk assessment tool to help us do our job, I still find myself driving home after work feeling disturbed about who we had to release. We need between 1,000 and 1,500 jail beds to keep local offenders locked up. We have fewer than 100 beds that we have funded, and that number is about to shrink again.

Many people, like sheep that are content grazing with their heads down in the field, prefer to think that local politicians are crying wolf about the public safety situation. They miss the fact that the paper reports every day on the wolves they are surrounded by, feeding on the sheep just down the street or in another neighborhood.

Last week, I personally informed about 40 "shepherds" (deputy sheriffs and support staff) that as of May 29 they were out of a job. Dozens more were notified by others of the same thing. The people that keep you safe day and night are being forced to find something else to do for a living because of a lack of Lane County law enforcement funding.

Those of us who remain will do the best we can with what we have left to work with - but make no mistake, there are more and more wolves outside, and they are noticing that there are fewer and fewer shepherds left to protect the sheep.

Douglas Hooley, a captain with the Lane County Sheriff's Office, is in charge of the Corrections Division. He has been employed by the sheriff's office for almost 20 years.