Low staff numbers, massive workloads and jail overcrowding are just some of the issues these agencies say they face.
Redding Police Chief Brian Barner said the department had started successful programs to tackle quality-of-life issues, including a crisis intervention team, a neighborhood police unit and a community work program.
"Unfortunately, because of staffing," Barner said, "we're needing to make adjustments.鈥�
He said they鈥檝e had to reduce the number of staff on those and other projects to keep core patrol services running.
Redding faces a projected $5 million budget deficit, and the police make up a significant portion of the overall budget.
Staffing issues at the District Attorney鈥檚 office means that even when the police make arrests, the prosecutors can鈥檛 always bring them to trial.
District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett said they have a 30% higher workload than other counties with similar-sized courts.
鈥淪hasta County is fighting a fire with one fireman and one fire hose, compared to comparable counties that have everything we would want to fight a fire," she said.
Bridgett said not only do other counties have a smaller workload, but they have more prosecutors doing the work. Shasta County doesn鈥檛 have enough lawyers to prosecute everyone who gets arrested, compounding issues like jail overcrowding.
She said the entire state is facing a shortage of public prosecutors. Currently, her office has six vacancies. She said when she got hired around 22 years ago, hundreds of applicants were competing for the same job. Now, her office is lucky to get just one application the entire year.
The county's judges also face cutbacks, making the situation even worse. Melissa Fowler-Bradley, the court executive officer for the Shasta County Superior Court, said funding was cut by $1.2 million this past fiscal year. The state, not the county, controls the superior court's funding.
She said the court's caseload continues to increase, but the number of judges hasn't.
"In September of 2023, the legislature passed Senate Bill 75, which authorized 26 new judgeships statewide, subject to appropriation, meaning they weren't funded," Fowler Bradley said.
She said the bill isn't the first time lawmakers have recognized the shortage of judges but have failed to provide funding for them. The county doesn't have the power to add new judges on their own.
Both the city of Redding and Shasta County are reviewing next year's budgets, which must be adopted by the end of June.
