Levies for Police Services Suggested

Orange County’s chief administrator, noting that programs to reduce jail overcrowding are projected to triple in cost by the year 2000, is urging supervisors to consider the creation of a new corrections department and assessing taxpayers for law enforcement services.

Chief Administrative Officer Larry Parrish, in a report presented Monday to the Board of Supervisors, also recommended experimenting with alternatives to jail, including early parole and electronic surveillance of prisoners in their homes.

With the cost of new jail construction and operation costs projected to total $1.3 billion by the end of the century, one official compared the jail overcrowding problem to a “vacuum cleaner sucking up county dollars right and left.”

“It’s very frightening to look at,” Parrish said of the projected costs. “Without some changes in the whole system, I don’t know how we’re going to finance and provide all that.”

One of the report’s recommendations was to explore the transfer of some or all of Sheriff Brad Gates’ jail operations to a separate corrections department staffed by lower-salaried corrections officers and run by an official appointed by supervisors.

Gates, who is expected to oppose such a measure, was not available for comment Monday. Sheriff’s Lt. Dick Olson said Gates would not comment on the proposal until he had seen the final report.

Another proposal expected to generate controversy was the recommendation to seek new revenue to pay for law enforcement services. The report recommended seeking legislation to allow the creation of special tax assessment districts to pay for patrol services. Failing that, county staff suggested reducing services or contracting with city police departments for service in unincorporated “islands” in north, west and central Orange County.

Supervisors are expected to consider the recommendations on July 8.

The report comes as supervisors and county staff are preparing for hearings next month on a proposed 1986-87 county budget of $1.26 billion, which is $29 million less than this year’s because of the loss of federal revenue sharing.

Virtually all county agencies have been asked to hold budget requests to current levels, absorbing salary and cost increases that translate to real cuts of as much as 7% in some cases, according to county officials.

“If we continue to fund the Sheriff’s Department and the jail programs at the projected levels, it is going to mean significant cuts in other areas,” said county analyst Diane Fish, who contributed to the report.

“Every decision, unfortunately, that (supervisors) make financially for the foreseeable future will be affected by the jail overcrowding issue,” Parrish predicted.

The pressure to build new jail facilities and reduce the number of inmates entering the jail system grew out of an 8-year-old suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union alleging that living conditions in the facility were inhumane.

On March 18, 1985, when 500 of more than 2,000 jail inmates were sleeping on the floor, U.S. District Judge William P. Gray ordered Sheriff-Coroner Gates and the county to reduce that number.

The population at the main men’s jail in Santa Ana is now within the range of 1,400 to 1,500 set by the judge last month and no inmates are sleeping on the floor.

However, Judge Gray last month warned county officials that he would tolerate no more delays after this summer in getting the population down to a flat 1,400, including weekends and holidays.

Gates told supervisors that he will be unable to comply without funding for some type of facility.

The sheriff and county court officials have achieved the reductions mainly by citing instead of jailing large numbers of people suspected of misdemeanor crime such as public drunkenness, shoplifting and loitering.

But inmate populations are projected to grow unabated through the year 2000. The need for new inmate beds is expected to increase 2 1/2 times to more than 8,400 by the end of the century.

Efforts under way to reduce jail overcrowding and address new needs include plans for a 1,500-bed facility by 1990, proposed to be built on county land near Anaheim Stadium. City officials, two state legislators and residents oppose the location.

Construction also is nearing completion on a 384-bed intake-and-release center behind the existing jail.

Other proposals, outlined in the county administrative office’s report include adding bed space at the James A. Musick Honor Farm and at a halfway house.

The county should continue to explore arraigning prisoners by video camera to speed processing and reduce transportation costs, according to the report.

The report recommends continuing the sheriff-coroner’s citation and release program and trying a pilot project to allow low-risk prisoners to serve sentences at home with electronic surveillance.