‘We’re on our own’: the rural US town where police refuse calls
In Rancho Tehama Reserve, residents are used to getting by without everything they need. The price, or the perk, of living among the oak trees and rolling hills where cattle graze in this rural northern California community is its isolation.
People typically come to the Ranch, as residents call it, looking for space and quiet – they only got proper cellphone and internet service three years ago. The settlement is at the end of a two-lane road that meanders through the hillsides of California’s Sacramento Valley and offers glimpses of the snow-capped peaks of Mounts Lassen and Shasta. The gas station has snacks, propane and phone chargers, and the hardware store carries alfalfa pellets, kerosene and bolts, but most anything else requires at least a 30-minute drive.
Sherri Burns, the owner of the hardware store, said people here knew one another, and were often united by their love for a place viewed by outsiders as the “armpit of Tehama county”.
“I love it. I wouldn’t go anywhere else,” said Burns, who is also the assistant volunteer fire chief. “If you respect people, you get respect back. I’ve never had fear out here – and I’ve gone on calls in the middle of the night by myself.”
But lately the seclusion of this community of 1,750 has presented a dangerous dilemma – residents say when they call 911, they are frequently unable to get any help.
Violent crime in Tehama county, which houses Rancho Tehama Reserve, has been on the rise for three years, according to the most recently available data. The region has higher property and violent crime rates than the national average, according to US News and World Report. The Ranch was also the site of a 2017 mass shooting that left five people dead.
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