A Santa Barbara County grand jury report is sharply critical of the Sheriff’s Office mandatory overtime policy for custody deputies that it says has become an integral part of budgeting and personnel management procedures.
While the grand jury said it could not determine the impact of mandatory overtime in human terms, it did note the Sheriff’s Office acknowledged the policy is “a significant cause of dissatisfaction for many of our staff.”
In their final report on an investigation into mandatory overtime for custody deputies, grand jurors acknowledged that the very nature of law enforcement requires personnel to work overtime.
They pointed to the back-to-back Thomas fire and 1/9 Debris Flow disasters that required many hours of overtime by first responders as an example, and noted law enforcement deputies have also worked a significant amount of overtime since 2002.
“Nonetheless, the decade-plus mandatory overtime policy for custody deputies raised questions for the jury about staffing and personnel management practices, the morale and welfare of custody deputies, financial implications and Sheriff’s Office priorities,” the report said.
Grand jurors said there is no evidence the Sheriff’s Office has made finding ways to avoid mandatory overtime a priority and expressed concern that when the new Northern Branch Jail opens, the situation will get worse.
The report, released May 9, includes five findings and 10 recommendations to address those findings.
Sheriff’s Office officials have 60 days, or until July 8, to respond to all five findings and six of the recommendations; the County Board of Supervisors has 90 days, or until Aug. 7, to respond to three of the findings and four of the recommendations.
During budget workshops earlier this year, supervisors indicated they were not happy with mandatory overtime in the Sheriff’s Department and expressed a desire for the staff to find a way to avoid it.
The grand jury’s finding No. 3 says the Sheriff’s Office “has not considered all possible measures” to reduce mandatory overtime in the short term, and the report contains three recommendations for the sheriff and one for the Board of Supervisors to pursue.
Grand jurors recommended the Sheriff’s Office “review budget allocations with county auditors and accountants to identify potential cost savings” that could fund recruiting and personnel activities and “review the assignment of custody deputies to nonline positions” to see if those jobs could be done by civilians, contractors or retired former deputies.
They also recommended the Sheriff’s Office assess “alternative business models,” including cross-training law enforcement deputies to rotate through custody positions, thus increasing the number of custody personnel available.
Grand jurors also said the Board of Supervisors should direct the staff to perform a comprehensive study of Sheriff’s Office staffing “to provide a clear understanding of staffing requirements, shortfalls and costs … .”
They recommended the study include the allocation of law enforcement and custody positions, how the average 1,578 productive hours per deputy — per the Sheriff’s Office estimate — compares to other law enforcement agencies.
The study also should include the number of additional custody deputies that would be required to eliminate the mandatory overtime policy and the projected costs of funding additional positions.
The grand jury became aware of the mandatory overtime issue while inquiring into the conditions and management of the jail and, through anecdotal accounts and information from the Sheriff’s Office, indicated custody deputies were not happy with the policy.
The grand jurors’ report is based, in part, on more than 60 questions submitted to the Sheriff’s Office, statistics from the sheriff and consultants’ staffing studies, and interviews with Sheriff’s Office personnel, custody deputies, County Executive Officer’s office senior staff, county supervisors and a Deputy Sheriffs Association representative.
“Despite repeated requests, the jury was unable to obtain an interview with County Human Resources,” the report noted.
The report noted jurors found discrepancies in the staffing numbers provided at various times by the Sheriff’s Office and could not get a definite answer on minimum staffing requirements for the Main Jail and Transportation Unit.
But it also said the Sheriff’s Office has set minimum staffing at 20 deputies during the day and 18 at night for the Main Jail and 21 deputies working 10-hour shifts for the Transportation Unit.
One response from the Sheriff’s Office indicated a total of 13 custody deputies positions are unfilled, while another said 14 positions were vacant in the Main Jail staffing alone and another five were vacant in the Transportation Unit, according to the report.
But grand jurors found that the average overtime hours worked by each custody deputy ranged from a low of 81 in 2001-02 to a high of 564 in 2016-17.
The costs for those overtime hours ranged from $394,398, or nearly 20 percent over the amount budgeted in 2001, to more than $5.08 million, or 221.9 percent over the budgeted amount in 2017.
Jurors concluded the overtime cost per custody deputy averages $78,900 per year, whereas the fully loaded cost for a full-time deputy is $125,000.
That difference is expected to shrink over time as more personnel pick up a greater share of retirement costs and the number of productive hours increases, the report said.
However, the Sheriff’s Office said although vacancy rates have always required the use of overtime to maintain required staffing, the office would be unable to maintain minimum levels even if all positions were filled, according to the report.
The grand jury noted in its first finding that the human toll from years of significant overtime for custody and law enforcement deputies alike is not known.
Jurors recommended the Sheriff’s Office survey all deputies to determine their opinions of both mandatory and voluntary overtime and assess the impact on morale, performance, productive hours and employee retention.
In its second finding, the jury said recruiting new deputies is a low priority and recommended the Sheriff’s Office have a recruiting firm review its procedures and make recommendations for improvements, including about incentive programs.
Jurors also recommended the Board of Supervisors direct a market survey be conducted to compare the Sheriff’s Office’s recruiting and personnel policies to those of police forces in this county and sheriff’s departments in other counties.
Grand jurors found the Transportation Unit is especially understaffed, leading to acute mandatory overtime issues.
They recommended supervisors order a near-term assessment of the time and costs, as well as impact on custody staffing, to implement video arraignments in the Main Jail and Northern Branch Jail when it opens.
Based on the results of that assessment, jurors recommended the board seek agreement from the Superior Court to implement video arraignments as soon as possible.
Lastly, the jury found the impact on existing overtime requirements when the Northern Branch Jail opens is unknown.
It recommended the Sheriff’s Office study the projected impact based on two scenarios — that all funded positions are filled, and that all vacant positions remain unfilled.
May 22, 2018
Lompoc Record
By Mike Hodgson
No comments:
Post a Comment