Clark County Sheriff’s Office commanders’ letter knocks county council, manager

Commanders within the Clark County Sheriff’s Office said in a Wednesday letter addressed to the county council and county manager that they can no longer encourage deputies to stick around in hopes of competitive pay and incentives.

The letter marks the third statement this week from organizations within the sheriff’s office criticizing county leadership for the agency’s staffing shortage. On Monday, Sheriff Chuck Atkins announced deputies would no longer respond to minor crimes, such as low-value theft and simple assaults, due to staffing levels. People calling to report those types of crimes will be sent to the online reporting system, Atkins said, or encouraged to call the desk deputy during regular business hours.

KC Kasberg, president of the sheriff’s office’s administrator’s association, said in the letter that the service cuts are just the first step and could lead to investigative units closing and fewer deputies on patrol.

“This is a public safety issue that you have refused to address,” the letter reads. “It will not matter who the next sheriff is, these problems and failures will continue unless you make the necessary corrections.”

County Council Chair Karen Bowerman and Councilor Gary Medvigy expressed disappointment in the statements from the sheriff’s office organizations in a Wednesday meeting and said they’ve been working on funding during executive session meetings and reaching collective bargaining agreements. Medvigy said he was shocked by feelings at the sheriff’s office that the council hasn’t supported them.

“I wanted to dispel this false information out there that the county executive branch, as well as the county council, is not supporting the sheriff,” Medvigy said during the meeting. “We are. We do believe in law enforcement; public safety, public security is a fundamental tenet of what we do in government.”

Bowerman said that county staff who are a part of collective bargaining with the agency’s unions have been negotiating with the guilds to implement the funding requests.

“The council has been very responsive to the requests that have come from the sheriff’s office, which actually are few in number until this last couple of weeks,” Bowerman said during Wednesday’s meeting. “Just be aware that the support is there and it’s important to realize that this council is behind the deputy sheriffs, the staff, the people who do the work in the sheriff’s office.”

Medvigy also said the council has no control over the sheriff’s hiring.

“We have nothing to do with (the sheriff’s) internal hiring practices, the length of time it takes to hire, do background checks, the fact that they often put out requests for laterals instead of new hires,” he said. “And the fact that we have fully funded — as we look back over the last six years — the staffing limits for both corrections staff and patrol deputies, yet the sheriff’s department has fallen behind year after year after year in hiring. We don’t — and our county manager doesn’t — manage that HR process. The sheriff’s office does. Nevertheless, these are extraordinary times.”

As of Tuesday, the sheriff’s office has 48 vacancies and received 12 applications within the last month, according to the administrator’s association statement. Kasberg said that a staff member in the enforcement branch resigned last week, and the leadership anticipates another two to four resignations by the end of this month.

Kasberg said the Vancouver Police Department is recruiting current sheriff’s deputies, offering pay increases and hiring bonuses. He said a deputy who’s been with the sheriff’s office for three years and is making $70,000 a year has been offered a starting salary at the Vancouver Police Department of $95,000, with the potential to make over $100,000 within two years. Vancouver is also offering $25,000 hiring bonuses for officers who are already certified and $10,000 bonuses for entry-level officers.

“Unless you take this situation seriously and offer compensation comparable to the agencies competing for the limited pool of applicants, including our current employees, we will continue to lose staff,” the statement said.

The Deputy Sheriff’s Guild also criticized the council and county manager for their lack of action, and the guild said it feels its concerns have not been heard.

Reporter Shari Phiel contributed to this report.