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$10K signing bonus helps Pierce County Sheriff’s Department nab needed patrol deputies
After years of struggling with a staffing shortage, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department plans to hire 15 deputies this week.
Another nine could be brought on in the near future.
Officials have complained about limited staffing for years and pointed to budget limitations and difficulty finding interested, qualified applicants.
In hopes of drawing higher caliber candidates, the department recently offered a $10,000 hiring bonus for law enforcement officers willing to leave their current agencies and join Pierce County.
The incentive drew dozens of applicants.
Sheriff Paul Pastor said the “unique circumstance” will allow the department to bring on 15 deputies by Thursday. Nine of those would not need to attend the five-month basic training academy because they are lateral hires, saving time and money.
Background checks are in process for another 40 applicants.
“We have been clear and persistent: to do this job right, more personnel are needed,” Pastor told The News Tribune.
The County Council, which heard a presentation from sheriff officials last week on why hiring more deputies is important, agrees.
“We have been pushing on the Sheriff’s Department to fill current vacancies,” County Council chairman Doug Richardson said. “We don’t just support it, we put our money where our mouth is.”
Last year, the County Council approved funding for 24 vacancies and this week reiterated its desire to fill those positions.
That means Pastor could soon hire another nine deputies.
There are 345 commissioned employees in the Sheriff’s Department, 245 of which are deputies. They are tasked with patrolling more than 1,800 square miles and 440,000 citizens.
A sheriff’s spokesman said the department has .7 of a deputy per 1,000 residents. The King County Sheriff’s Office has more than two deputies for every 1,000 residents.
“While the deputy sheriffs are dedicated to delivering high-quality police services, there are simply not enough of them assigned to the patrol function,” according to a staffing study conducted in 2016.
The 46-page study recommended hiring up to 85 additional personnel, including 40 deputies, 12 to 18 sergeants and 3 to 7 lieutenants.
It found having so few deputies led to unsafe situations for deputies who often respond alone to calls, longer response times when citizens report a crime and significant drive time for deputies who have to crisscross the county responding to calls in opposite directions.
“The ability to get sufficient numbers of patrol deputies to those urgent calls requiring more than one deputy places our people in a dilemma of safety for our responders versus public need for emergency help,” Pastor said. “This both increases the danger to our personnel and results in underserving the community.”
With minimum staffing, there could be as few as 14 deputies patrolling the county at any given time.
In the central patrol area — which covers Parkland, Spanaway, Midland, South Hill, Graham and Frederickson — six to eight deputies work each of the three shifts.
At least two deputies work each shift in the three detachment areas covering the mountains, foothills and peninsula.
Since the staffing study was done in 2016, the County Council has approved funding for 28 positions.
“The Council is committed to filling vacancies within the Sheriff’s Department,” Richardson said.
During last week’s presentation to the Council’s Committee of the Whole, chief of administrative services Nick Hausner said attrition is another concern with limited staffing — 78 employees are eligible to retire this year, and another 34 could retire in the next two years.
“Constantly expecting more and more efficiency without sufficient staffing is troubling,” Pastor said.
In the meantime, many deputies are forced to work overtime to meet minimum staffing levels.
So far this year, the department has paid $395,000 in overtime to ensure there are enough deputies patrolling the streets.
In 2019, it shelled out $975,000 in overtime.
“But the cost of understaffing is not just measured in overtime expenditure,” Pastor said. “It can be measured in overwork and stress and fatigue. “This impacts both officer safety and quality of service.”
Offering a hiring bonus for lateral hires is a first in Pierce County, but several agencies have successfully done it in the past.
Last year the Seattle Police Department offered a $15,000 hiring bonus. Bellevue police in 2018 began offering a $16,000 hiring bonus to experienced officers with two years in the field. Renton police offer a $10,000 hiring incentive.
With recent calls to defund police or cut resources to law enforcement agencies, some officers are looking for work in different cities.
Several law enforcement officers subject to cutbacks live in Pierce County and have expressed an interest in working locally, sheriff’s officials said.
“We provide an agency with a reputation for strong ethical standards and a reputation (despite our low staffing levels) for getting things done in the right way,” Pastor said. “We offer a solid place to pursue their law enforcement careers.”
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