THURSTON COUNTY, Wash. — Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders declared a temporary staffing emergency in the department Wednesday, citing only 36 active deputies for the county of 150,000 people.
Sanders said the department has been in a "perpetual state of severe staffing issues for the past three years," in a letter posted to social media. Employee sickness or injury, academy wait times, background investigator constraints and a low number of funded deputies per the county's population size were all listed as reasons for the shortage.
Sheriff's office employees are working "dangerously long days with routine overtime," Sanders said. The overtime costs are also cutting into the department's budget, forcing the department to regularly cancel training to stay within budget.
"This has led to a tired, minimally trained workforce," Sanders wrote. "This trend is unsustainable and action must be taken to alleviate the pressure."
Declaring a staffing emergency will allow Sanders to alter employee schedules to address the station's needs. Sanders listed the following changes:
- Lieutenants assigned to the Field Operations Bureau will return to minimum staffing day shift slots as supervisors
- Captains in the Field Operations Bureau and the Support Services Bureau will be reassigned a number of administrative duties held by lieutenants
- Sergeants will be expected to conduct fieldwork as "rover" units, handling calls and backing up deputies when a lieutenant is on shift
- Two deputies have been rotated to the swing shift
- Transfers from the Field Operations Bureau to the Support Services Bureau (detectives) have been placed on hold, leaving three vacant detective positions
In some instances, when staffing requires, non-emergency and misdemeanor property crimes may be referred to online reporting to ensure there are enough deputies available to respond to violent and "in-progress" calls during peak hours of call volume, Sanders wrote. Putting a pause on transferring new detectives may also delay serious cases being assigned in the Support Services Bureau.
The emergency declaration enables him to move mid-level employees, like detectives and sergeants, back to patrol, he said. But, Sanders said, that will slow training operations, cold case investigations, and recruiting efforts.
Property crimes like car prowls and items stolen from yards will have to be reported online.
"Being a victim is not a low priority, by any means, but we have to do the best we can with the resources we're allocated," said Sanders.
Deputy Kevin Burton-Crow said something needs to change. He has worked for the department since 2014.
Longer shifts, constant overtime requests and working without backup is taking a toll on deputies, Burton-Crow said.
"It's gone from times where we were pretty robust," said Burton-Crow. "Being able to have a backup car with you, being able to have partners to work a case, to doing a lot of stuff by yourself which can be unnerving, when your backup is 45 minutes away."
Sheriff Sanders said his deputies are looking for "any kind of relief" and that he can no longer make his deputies work without what he considers necessary backup.
"You didn't hire me as a deputy to wait 30 minutes while someone's getting their face beat in just down the street," said Sanders. "I'm going to go intervene. That's the issue. Our deputies are constantly going to violent crimes by themselves, which is not an industry standard."
The changes will remain in effect until the office has 45 of the 56 funded deputy positions filled. There are currently 36 active deputies. They are seeking to fill 11 patrol vacancies and 30 corrections officer vacancies.
Public safety levy up for vote
Sanders said a public safety levy on the November ballot would enable him to hire more deputies and background check investigators — something that would speed up the hiring process.
Voters will be asked to raise the county's sales tax by two-tenths of a percent. Seventy-five percent of the money raised would go to the sheriff's office, with the rest of the levy going to the county court system.
Sanders said his department could get an additional $7 million a year under the levy.