Sheriff reacts to Sisters mayor’s concerns over service

For more than 20 years, the city of Sisters has contracted policing services to the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, but the current contract expires in 2020.

And now there’s at least some discussion about reinstating the long-disbanded Sisters Police Department.

Recently, the sheriff’s office learned that Sisters Mayor Chuck Ryan had some concerns with the way the agency is managed in Sisters, where the agency has a substation.

That’s according to the Nugget newspaper in Sisters, which interviewed Ryan last week.

But those concerns are news to the sheriff’s office.

Officials said they knew the city wanted more citations handed out, instead of warnings. But the sheriff’s office said that’s not its philosophy.

Along with that, Mayor Ryan also said the sheriff’s office “record-keeping” was lacking.

Sheriff Shane Nelson told NewsChannel 21 on Monday that his office is looking into that right now.

“The mayor told me the paperwork issue had to do with the number of law enforcement stops — specifically, tickets or warnings that were issued in the city, and the concern over whether that was an accurate count,” Nelson said.

“Our office has looked into it, and there is some discrepancy with the count over the last month,” the sheriff said. “And so we’re going to look into that and correct that, so we give accurate information to the City Council.

The city of Sisters pays the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office about $560,000 a year for law enforcement services.

With that comes a 24/7 deputy patrol, along with extra help, including, detectives, DUII services, school safety training and SWAT team response, if needed.

The sheriff’s office said it will continue serving Sisters as best it can until it’s no longer necessary.

But we spoke with the owner of Sisters Feed and Supply, Fred Mccaulou, who said a separate city police department could be a good thing.

“We need help during this period of time, the high-traffic times, because people are doing things that aren’t very smart sometimes when there’s that much traffic,” Mccaulou said.

NewsChannel 21 tried to contact Ryan but he has not returned our calls.