On the news last night, the HC Sheriff said they would just pull CONTRACT DEPUTIES. That's what I tried to get across in the Forum.

 

"You are looking at two to three hours. Who is taking that deputy's place on the beat? Nobody," he said.

He said the biggest risk is when there is a major event in any given district.

That happened Monday in Patrol District 3, which covers 250 square miles from Highway 288 in the south, through the east side to the Beltway in the northeast.

It was a stand-off situation involving a bank-robbery suspect.

There were about 10 patrol deputies in District 3 that shift, and about six of them ended up working that standoff. Another three had made arrests and were downtown dealing with the booking process, leaving coverage for the 250-square-mile district thin at best.

Goerlitz was one of those deputies.

"By the time that we got back in service I think there were 16 or 17 calls that were holding,” he said. “Calls held for two to three hours for us to respond to them."