Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price explains a problem that is handcuffing Dallas County: there aren’t enough guards for the county jail.
“I have the second largest population in the state, I have 7,600 individuals. I got 187 vacancies,” said Price.
Those 187 vacancies leave Price and the county short of the 1,450 detention officers he says are needed to meet state regulations to run a county jail.
Price believes it comes down to better pay.
“I am competing with other urban counties that will give their officers step raises and have a better base pay,” said Price.
Price asked county commissioners Tuesday for $1.5 million to give current officers a mid-year raise and compete against other counties.
“What I want to do is deploy what we call a mid-year adjustment,” said Price.
Forty miles west on I-30, Sheriff Bill Waybourn says Tarrant County is facing similar issues.
“We’re almost 180 jailers down and the population in the jail is going up, and we certainly need those,” said Waybourn.
He says it’s difficult to find people to do the job. Waybourn says starting pay is just under $57,000, which you can make right out of high school.
“It is a struggle to find people who are called to law enforcement these days, and we’re all here in the metroplex stealing from each other,” said Waybourn.
Price says Dallas struggles with retention as well.
“I hired 300 individuals, I basically lost 294,” said Price, “I need officers who are seasoned, who have been there and who want to continue their career there.”
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