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Pierce County is low on sheriff’s deputies. Would a $10,000 bonus help with retention?

PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Pierce County is considering a $10,000 bonus for all its sheriff’s deputies to encourage more applicants and higher retention rates.

The Sheriff’s Department is short 46 funded deputy positions, and the sheriff expects more than 50 departures this year.

Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier( R-Puyallup) wrote a letter to the County Council on Thursday, proposing a $4 million budget increase to attract new applicants and retain deputies on the force.

“The challenges of serving in law enforcement have never been greater and many are considering retirement, transferring to jurisdictions with higher pay, or choosing different careers with less danger and stress,” Dammeier wrote the council.

The County Council approves the county budget and adjustments. Council Chair Derek Young (D-Gig Harbor) said he is interested in learning more about the $10,000 retention incentive. The council has yet to decide whether to bring the proposal forward for a vote.

“We are happy to listen, and there are a lot of factors that go into this,” Young said.

Sheriff Ed Troyer hopes the council passes the budget expense for the 350-deputy department.

“I think the $10,000 per deputy shows the county government’s support of the sheriff’s department and the dangerous work that our deputies do day in and day out,” he said in an email.

If action is taken to address the dearth of deputies, Young believes more should be done for the staffing shortages in other county departments.

“The sheriff’s department isn’t the only department having employment shortages,” he said.

So far, other financial incentives have not been enough of a draw to cover the sheriff’s staffing deficiency. The department currently offers law enforcement officers across Washington a bonus of $15,000 to sign on in Pierce County, Troyer said. Last year was a five-year high in departures when 36 deputies left the department.

While all parties agree that there is a shortage of deputies, there are disagreements on why.

Dammeier also asked for council members to sign onto a letter to the state Legislature, calling for revisions to a 2021 police reform bill that he sees as the reason for an uptick in crime. According to the Washington State Legislature’s House Bill 1310, officers may only resort to physical force when there’s probable cause to make an arrest, prevent an escape or protect against an imminent threat of harm.

“Well-intentioned but ill-conceived changes to state law have prevented police from protecting the public in many circumstances. It is not coincidental that homicides, property crimes, assault, and traffic fatalities have dramatically increased over the last year,” Dammeier’s letter to the council said.

Troyer said deputies the department has trained and put through academy are moving to other states and other jobs because of the “anti-police” movement. He blames last year’s law enforcement bills for the shortages.

“With legislative changes, it is taking deputies longer to investigate and resolve calls. This is having an impact on getting to calls timely and what effect we have when we do arrive,” Troyer said.

Some officials disagree, saying that this follows the current national trend of staffing departures called The Great Resignation.

“According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4 million Americans quit their jobs in July 2021,” the Harvard Business review reported in September. “Resignations peaked in April and have remained abnormally high for the last several months, with a record-breaking 10.9 million open jobs at the end of July.”

The staffing shortages were a problem for the department before the law enforcement reform bills passed last year, Young said.

“We have an aging workforce, and we have struggled to hold on to people for years,” he said. “(The bills) have exacerbated the issue, but it isn’t all due to recent events.”

Troyer confirmed that there have been more retirements but believes they are due to a department demoralized from the reform bills.

“There are people retiring, however, there are a large number of people who are retiring before they normally would, some are resigning and leaving law enforcement work all together and some others are leaving for other agencies in or out of state,” Troyer said.

Even if all of the funded positions are filled, Troyer said, there is a further need to add more staff. A 2016 staffing study concluded Pierce County needed to add 66 commissioned personnel to the department. Since the study, County Council has budgeted about half of the study’s recommended staffing size, Troyer said.

Dammeier, Young and Troyer said details of the potential retention bonus need to be discussed with labor unions.

This story was originally written and published by The News Tribune.