With the number of patrols in the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department cut by a third due to illness and injury, Chief Deputy Kevin Joyce and Captain William Rhoads are on the road again, assisting with patrol duty.

Although Rhoads enjoys being on patrol, he would prefer to have a full staff to work with.

According to Rhoads, eight deputies are out on medical leave with injuries including everything from a broken tailbone to a shoulder ailment. Though a few are scheduled to return to work at some point, others are out indefinitely.

In an attempt to provide the necessary coverage, Sheriff Mark Dion issued a mandatory overtime order Monday that has deputies working 50 to 70 hours a week.

“Three hundred and twenty hours to cover time off is tough to give,” Rhoads said. “We have no shift relief. If someone calls in sick, it has to be solved with overtime – and that’s more costly, I feel.”

Even with the overtime, the department is concerned about their ability not only to fill the gap left by so many who are out, but to supply the resources needed to respond to the increase of emergency calls.

“In 1994, when I first started tracking calls for service, there were 17,429,” Rhoads said. “In 2004, the figure rose to 22,804. We have the same manpower now as we did back then.”

Although the population is growing in the county, the number of deputies hasn’t increased since 1992. And last year, Rhoads had to make the choice to reduce the number of cars from eight to five – “it was either cut cars or cut people.”

This year, Rhoads is projecting over 26,000 calls. But there will be no additional deputies to answer those calls, as the budget has already been determined.

The number of sheriff’s deputies is determined by county commissioners. Attempts to reach County Manager Peter Crichton for his comments on the shortage of deputies in this area were unsuccessful.

Not only has there been an increase in calls in general, said Rhoads, but there has been an increase in the number of serious calls: “they are calls for more violent crimes, there are more gun calls and more drug-related calls.”

As Labor Day approaches, the department is gearing up for a long weekend notorious for its accidents, traffic-related deaths and OUIs. But they plan to be out in as great a number as overtime will allow, patrolling the roads and responding to emergencies.