What will a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department with 209 fewer deputies look like?

Sheriff John McGinness announced late last week that he'll have to cut far more deputies to balance his budget than he originally calculated. The numbers could change again, but a picture of their impact is taking shape.

Patrol staffing will be knocked down by 74 percent – leaving just 10 cars patrolling the entire unincorporated county at any given time. Detective staffing will be halved. Helicopters will be grounded, the Problem-Oriented Policing program will be disbanded and dispatchers will be in triage mode as they assign precious few resources to calls for service.

The department will look "pre-1970," said sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran.

"While the population of the county has grown exponentially and so has crime, we'll have the same number of deputies patrolling the streets of Sacramento County as we did in 1970," Curran said. "The impact will be devastating to the taxpaying citizens of Sacramento."

On Friday, McGinness said his department will have to lay off 80 more deputies than initially anticipated – for a total of 209 – to cut $57 million. In addition, 22 non-sworn employees will be laid off.

"There's nothing good about it," he said, "unless you're a criminal."

Because the Sheriff's Department is legally mandated to staff the Superior Court system and the county's adult correctional facilities, McGinness said, the bleeding must come from patrol and investigative divisions.

Already, the changes are ringing alarms in the community.

"That has got to be a joke," said Trish Harrington, a community activist and small-business owner in Del Paso Manor.

"I think the criminals are waiting and they're just going to cut loose," she said. "I despise guns, I really do. I hate guns, I stay away from them, but I swear to God, I'm ready to buy one."

Residents of the city of Sacramento should take note as well. Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel said he expects the sheriff's cuts to drain his resources in several ways.

For example, his air operations unit will have to adjust its helicopter flight schedule – without increasing costs – once the sheriff's helicopters are grounded. Currently, the two agencies alternate flying time and cover both jurisdictions when in the air.

Braziel said police officers will cross the county line on occasion if deputies are on a critical call and in need of cover – a likely scenario with the sheriff's proposed patrol staffing.

Also crossing county lines will be criminals, Braziel said. With sheriff's resources stretched so thin, offenders are less likely to be caught, and more likely to be causing problems inside the city as well.

"Criminals don't know any geographic boundaries," he said.

What impact the sheriff's cuts will have on overall crime rates in the county remains to be seen: There isn't a clear correlation between staffing levels and crime rates, said William Vizzard, chairman of the criminal justice department at California State University, Sacramento.

However, "this is a very significant cut from their baseline operation," he said. "Undoubtedly, it's going to have impact to some extent on the community, the morale of the agency and certainly the level of service."

Though not intimately familiar with the sheriff's operations, Vizzard said he is confident McGinness is not overstating the severity of his department's financial situation.

"There's always posturing (in political realms), but in this case, the hit is so real that they don't have to posture very much," he said. "They have a very real problem."

McGinness said his forecast could change if the county Board of Supervisors restores more money, or federal stimulus funds provide significant help. But overall, he is not optimistic.

Last week, Kevin Mickelson, president of the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs' Association, blasted McGinness for what he described as a "miscalculation" leading to the extra layoffs. He then implored the Board of Supervisors to hand over $15 million to make up for that alleged mistake.

On Monday, Mickelson said he should not have been so harsh on McGinness because the budget crisis ultimately is not his fault.

But he did continue his plea for help from supervisors: Mickelson said he will go before his union's board of directors Thursday to suggest that deputies defer a 2.9 percent equity raise scheduled for the next fiscal year. They already agreed to defer a 4 percent cost-of-living raise, and this additional move would save $6.6 million, or roughly 50 jobs, Mickelson said.

If union membership approves that deferment, Mickelson said, he wants the county to restore the same amount of money.

"If they matched it, that's 90 to 100 deputy sheriffs we can avoid laying off," he said.

Call The Bee's Kim Minugh, (916) 321-1038.