DENAIR — There isn’t enough in crime in Denair to justify placing a full-time deputy there, Stanislaus County Sheriff Jeff Dirkse said Tuesday.
Dirkse addressed a crowd of about 60 people at the Municipal Advisory Council meeting in the Denair United School District office building.
A petition circulating throughout the community produced more than 400 signatures of those concerned about what they believe is an increase in criminal activity in Denair.
Dirkse spoke for about 15 minutes before taking questions for another half hour, telling residents he was glad to answer any questions they had, though they might not like the answers he provided.
“Denair has never had a deputy solely assigned to the town of Denair … period,” Dirkse said. “There was a substation for a period of time … but that was not staffed 24/7. That was an office, and periodically you had a deputy in it, or maybe a community services officer or a clerk to handle some paperwork, but there was never a deputy there 24/7, 365.
“And quite frankly, I am not the one you have to convince. You have to convince the Board of Supervisors to fund that and then allocate the positions for it.”
Dirkse went on to say that even if the supervisors were convinced, they would look to the sheriff for guidance as to whether the expense would be justified.
“The answer simply would be no,” said Dirkse, who said Keyes and Empire outpace Denair in the need for an APD. “Denair averages about three calls for service in any 24-hour period. And that’s not even crimes. That’s just calls for service. That means someone has called law enforcement to come and solve a perceived problem of some type.”
Dirkse pointed out that many incidents go unreported because of a fear of retaliation.
Denair resident Janisse Foresti spoke forcefully during the public comment portion of the meeting about the community’s need for an APD, citing gang activity, side shows, interfering with traffic and vandalism. She was mostly pleased with what Dirkse had to say.
“I do think that he is right that people are not reporting many of these incidents,” said Foresti. “I think that needs to change. I just hear all these people saying they want to report these things, but they’re scared to. And I don’t know why.
“I’m very concerned about what’s going on and the escalation. Even if it’s not on paper, I know it. I see it.”
According to the sheriff’s crime stats, overall crime is down 3 percent this year compared to 2024.
“I’ll be honest,” said Dirkse. “I would love to have community deputies like we have in Salida. I would love to have them in a variety of communities across Stanislaus County: Denair, Empire, Keyes, Westley, Grayson, and so on. There are many communities that would benefit from having deputies assigned there 24/7. But we do not have the staffing, we do not have the staffing allocations, and we do not have the funding for that.”
In 2007, the sheriff’s office was authorized for 214 operations deputies. Today, it is authorized for 208, though it only employs about 190 as it battles back from a low point of 144.
