DCSO ‘rapidly approaching a public safety compromise’
Sheriff’s office faces severe staffing shortage
DeWitt County Sheriff Carl Bowen discussed a lack of patrol deputies and potential temporary solutions to maintain public-safety levels during the DeWitt County Commissioners Court meeting Oct. 24.
Bowen reported that the DeWitt County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) had seven open positions for deputies of varying assignments, with another expected by the end of October. With a total number of 21 deputies allotted in the department budget, the DCSO was only 66% staffed with deputies.
County Judge Daryl Fowler concurred with the sheriff’s concerns, adding that deputies combined for about 300 overtime hours last month alone.
“At this point, we are rapidly approaching a public safety compromise if we do not adjust what we are doing. That is why I’m before you today,” said Bowen
The Commissioners discussed the nationwide shortage of law enforcement candidates as well as other labor in other industries. Commissioner Precinct Curtis Afflerbach said it was important to provide competitive salaries to attract deputies during such a supply shortage.
“With the Court’s permission, I would like to use that money to hire some of our reserves as part-time employees to relieve some of the stress on the patrol division. We’ve done that in the past with the jail, that was successful. We’ve even done it with the dispatchers and it helped to alleviate those problems.”
Bowen was directed to gather more information for the court to discuss at a future meeting.