Under a low, heavy sky threatening sleet or snow, State Route 36 twists and turns along tree-topped ridges. In many spots, there鈥檚 no guardrail 鈥� just a spit of dirt between a driver and a thousand-foot drop.
This is a county where people are expected to take care of themselves, and in the last month, Tehama County itself has been operating without its own guardrail: Outgoing Sheriff Dave Hencratt said last month that deputies would no longer patrol during the day.
鈥淭his added reduction of services is necessary to manage a catastrophic staffing shortage throughout the agency,鈥� Hencratt said in a Nov. 8 press release.
On a recent December morning, lots of people鈥檚 faces hung low and heavy as the clouds.
The sheriff frowned when he met a reporter at midday on the edge of his property, dressed in barn clothes, declining to comment. The county administrator frowned because the sheriff鈥檚 abrupt decision threw his office into chaos. The tavern owner frowned because he works 23 miles outside of town and hasn鈥檛 seen a patrol car in weeks. The elected leaders, the motel owners, the rural residents left to their own devices 鈥� everyone, it seems, in this stretch of land between national forests, is unhappy with the circumstances, and they each have a different idea for how to solve it.
Some gave up on the sheriff鈥檚 office a long time ago.
鈥淲hen we called 911 even before they stopped patrolling, they鈥檇 say 鈥楽orry, we can鈥檛 make it, handle it yourself,鈥� 鈥� said Catherine Gasper of the tiny town of Mineral. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not what someone wants to hear when you鈥檙e getting beat up. But most people are armed up here, so we don鈥檛 worry too much.鈥�
Low pay and a higher bar
The decision to end daytime patrols 鈥� which generated sensational headlines and coverage from tabloids in and for a county whose could 鈥� was rooted in twin problems plaguing law enforcement across California and the country: There aren鈥檛 enough qualified new recruits to fill open positions, and a small, rural sheriff鈥檚 department like the one in Tehama County doesn鈥檛 pay its deputies enough to keep them long.
The state, meanwhile, isn鈥檛 making it any easier to hire police officers 鈥� particularly those who leave larger departments with shoddy disciplinary or criminal records and find employment at smaller organizations. of law enforcement officers to 21 and require the community college system to create a 鈥渕odern policing鈥� degree program by 2025, laying the groundwork for a statewide officer education minimum.
In Tehama County, tensions had been building for months, if not years. Hencratt told the Red Bluff Daily News in February that other law enforcement departments were treating his office like a 鈥渟upermarket of employees.鈥�
鈥淲hen (the) Redding Police Department says, 鈥榊ou know what chief, we鈥檙e down officers,鈥� 鈥榃ell go down to Tehama County, go down the officer aisle and pick some,鈥� and that鈥檚 what they do. They鈥檙e cherry picking our people,鈥�
Tehama County usually makes its hires from newly graduated applicants, said Tehama County Administrator Gabriel Hydrick. Since the county pays so poorly 鈥� about 22% below market rate, according to from August 鈥� the new recruits don鈥檛 stay long. The police department in the county seat of Red Bluff pays better, and law enforcement in the nearby city of Redding and surrounding Shasta County both offer higher salaries and hiring bonuses of several thousand dollars.
The system operated well for decades: Sheriff鈥檚 deputies left for higher-paying jobs, and their roles were filled by new recruits. But the labor market is tight and policing isn鈥檛 what it once was. Scores of incidents filmed on cell phones across the country have revealed the casual brutality of so-called bad apple cops, which legislators and civil liberties advocates argue drives potentially qualified applicants away from policing. Applications for policing are down, according to the Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training. Fewer applicants means smaller graduating classes. Their absences show up first in places like Tehama County.
Since 2012, the Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training, or POST, has certified on average about 3,200 officers each year. A basic certificate means that the applicant passed both the POST academy and a field training program, then completed a probationary period at the agency that employs them. The entire process takes about two years.
In 2022, however, the agency issued just 2,424 basic certificates as of Dec. 13, the lowest number of basic certificates issued since 2013, and well below the 10-year high of 4,530 issued in 2020.
鈥淚 would agree that it鈥檚 harder to be a police officer now than (in years past),鈥� said Hydrick, the county administrator. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of disincentives to being an officer. The culture isn鈥檛 behind you anymore. We have more laws about policing and being a police officer than other states.鈥�
But Hydrick also blames the working attitudes of the new generation making up the youngest ranks of law enforcement 鈥� or, in this case, not making up that new generation.
鈥淲e can keep throwing money at it, but if there鈥檚 a generation that鈥檚 not willing to work or apply for jobs, the money鈥檚 not going to fix that,鈥� Hydrick said. 鈥淭he younger generation wants to be gamers and YouTubers; maybe they cobble an income together from being an Uber driver.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not seeing people want to become professionals anymore.鈥�
Is it time to increase police funding in small counties?
One of the architects of California鈥檚 push for tougher regulations on police and policing is Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, a Los Angeles Democrat and chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee. He said he doesn鈥檛 see a conflict between police hiring problems and the state鈥檚 stronger hand in hiring officers and the practice of policing.
鈥淚t鈥檚 almost like, if you鈥檙e saying the regulations are too stringent, you鈥檙e saying we can鈥檛 get people who are not racist, who do not want to brutalize people of color,鈥� Jones-Sawyer said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not the ones making police officers look bad. It鈥檚 the bad police officers who are discouraging the good ones from applying.鈥�
鈥淲e probably do need to look at subsidizing smaller police departments so they can level the playing field."ASSEMBLYMEMBER REGGIE JONES-SAWYER, CHAIR, ASSEMBLY PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
But Sawyer-Jones said it may be time to consider having the state send money to the smallest departments, like the one in Tehama County, to make sure they can afford to pay competitive rates.
鈥淲e probably do need to look at subsidizing smaller police departments so they can level the playing field,鈥� he said.
The Tehama County Sheriff鈥檚 Office didn鈥檛 respond to dozens of emails and phone calls seeking comment. Hencratt, the sheriff whose term is expiring in January, did not return calls, and told a CalMatters reporter who approached his property that a press release would be the extent of his comments.
鈥淥ver the past decade, police lobbying organizations have said that any measure that increases transparency or accountability for officers will either increase crime or make people not want to be police,鈥� said Peter Bibring, senior counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
鈥淭hey said that about the measure to strengthen the ban on racial profiling in 2015, about the transparency over disciplinary records, changes to use of force law. So this is just, you know, the latest.鈥�
But, Bibring said, those portents of doom haven鈥檛 come to pass. If law enforcement agencies are having trouble recruiting a new generation, he said, they should probably look to the misconduct within their own ranks.
Lasting shortages
Police departments nationwide are calling for more officers, but in the smallest offices covering the largest geographic areas, the situation is more dire. In Shasta County, north of Tehama County, the sheriff鈥檚 office closed one level of the jail . Sacramento has had a police officer shortage 15 years ago, and in Los Angeles, the police department has no staffing problem, and is instead
It鈥檚 not like policing pays badly in California 鈥� sometimes the opposite. At the opposite end of the spectrum, a Beverly Hills assistant police chief in 2021, making him the highest-paid municipal employee in the state. But Tehama County is no Beverly Hills: less than one-half in the 2020-21 fiscal year, the latest year for which numbers were available
One recruiter who works with police departments said that law enforcement has been slow to change its recruiting practices, and that鈥檚 reflected in the smaller number of people joining the profession.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 1997,鈥� said Epic Recruiting CEO Sam Blonder. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not going to get 1,000 people signing up for the (policing exam).鈥�
The issue isn鈥檛 just pay, Blonder said, citing research showing that the newest generation of recruits looks for work-life balance ahead of pure compensation. But policing鈥檚 issues also extend to intransigence among the old guard. His work to recruit new officers, Blonder said, is as much about convincing police brass to do the recruiting.
鈥淎mong command staff there鈥檚 this attitude that I shouldn鈥檛 have to do this,鈥� Blonder said. 鈥淎sk 150 high school kids who wants to be a police officer 鈥� you won鈥檛 get one that will raise their hand. It鈥檚 not for me to say why that鈥檚 happened, but sometimes an industry needs a shakeup like that.鈥�
That shakeup is happening in real time in Tehama County.
鈥淧eople have expressed to me fear and concern based on the lack of the daytime sheriff鈥檚 office patrol,鈥� said Tehama County District Attorney Matt Rogers. 鈥淪imply put, if they pick up the phone and dial 911, is someone going to come?鈥�
鈥淎sk 150 high school kids who wants to be a police officer 鈥� you won鈥檛 get one that will raise their hand.鈥�SAM BLONDER, CEO, EPIC RECRUITING
Any Tehama County officials wishing for tax hikes to generate more county revenue watched those hopes fizzle in March 2020, when voters rejected the county鈥檚 1-cent sales tax increase. And it didn鈥檛 just fail, it was crushed, 84% to 16%.
Tehama County is also setting aside money for about 30 vacant sheriff鈥檚 office jobs, eight of them for deputies and 13 for deputies in the county jail. Hydrick, the county administrator, said the sheriff鈥檚 hope was to eventually fill those positions and restore the sheriff鈥檚 office to its 2017 size of approximately 84 deputies.
But in the meantime, all of those vacant positions 鈥渆ncumber,鈥� or put a hold on, the salaries those positions would be paid. That, Hydrick said, amounts to about $3 million each year in unused money by the sheriff鈥檚 office, which then reverts to the county鈥檚 general fund.
In place of the absent deputies will be the California Highway Patrol, which has that encompasses Tehama County.
鈥淪ince Nov. 20, the CHP has received numerous requests for assistance (from residents) to calls in Tehama County that don鈥檛 include their usual duties,鈥� California Highway Patrol spokesperson John Crouch said in an email.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea, whose county borders Tehama and whose office pays more, said background checks are as much an obstacle to making new hires as the recruiting process is.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a challenge to find people you would want to entrust with the authority to carry firearms,鈥� said Honea, who is also president of the California State Sheriffs鈥� Association.
Honea said his office tries to focus on retaining the people they already have by offering free gym memberships and yoga classes.
鈥淚 would hope I鈥檓 never in a position in Butte County to make that decision (to end daytime patrols),鈥� Honea said. 鈥淚 would exhaust other options before I did that.鈥�
For some longtime residents like Tehama County Supervisor Bill Moule, the end of daytime patrols is a return to the county鈥檚 past.
鈥淚 moved to this county in 1978, and the first question I asked was, 鈥榃hat kind of service do you have in the rural areas?鈥欌�� Moule said. 鈥淭he sheriff was kinda this big guy, been sheriff a long time. He looked at me and said, 鈥楽on, get yourself a shotgun and a dog.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 no different today than it was in 1978.鈥�
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