early budget discussion<\/a> with county commissioners.<\/p>\nThe Lubbock County Sheriff\u2019s Office currently has 17 vacancies. Rowe said pay disparities are causing the agency to lose experienced deputies to higher-paying employers, and that training a replacement takes years.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn day one, do you believe that they could walk in to an interview room with a murder suspect and talk them into a confession? No, that takes years to develop the skills to be able to go in and be successful in conducting that one aspect of the job,\u201d Rowe said.<\/p>\n
Vacancies straining patrol and investigations<\/p>\n
Rowe said a portion of those vacancies accounts for a third of his entire patrol division. To fill gaps, the agency is pulling more experienced deputies, like criminal investigators, into patrol duties.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat that translates to is if you\u2019ve got a pending case, a burglary of your home or something that our criminal investigator\u2019s doing, the case may slow down because they\u2019re working patrol and not being able to work your case,\u201d Rowe said.<\/p>\n
Chief Administrator Dan Corbin said even when an entry-level deputy leaves, the sheriff\u2019s office has already invested $25,000 to $30,000 in that person.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur deputies…they didn\u2019t want to leave. They enjoyed working here. They\u2019re happy to work here. But…when I can make $20,000 working just down the street, and better provide for my family, well, you know, that\u2019s a no-brainer a lot of times,\u201d Corbin said.<\/p>\n
Response times, overtime and burnout<\/p>\n
At any given time, five deputies are patrolling the 900 square miles that make up Lubbock County. Rowe recounted a story involving a county commissioner who was riding with a deputy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was riding with the deputy and the deputy just on his own volition just said, what\u2019s your address? And he punched it in his system. And he said, \u2018I just want you to know, Commissioner, that if your wife was calling right now and somebody was either trying to break in the house or do her harm in some way, it would take us 15 and a half minutes from where we are right now to get to your house,\u2019\u201d Rowe said.<\/p>\n
The county is currently spending $3 million a year in overtime for deputies to sit with inmates who must be transported to the hospital. Rowe is requesting six additional positions at the detention center. He said mandatory overtime is also contributing to employee burnout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing more valuable to them than their ability to take their time off, to decompress, to unload, and deal with the challenges of the job. And yet we\u2019re having to turn around and say, you thought you had three days off this week, but we\u2019re going to have to get at least one, if not two of those, and require you to come in and cover,\u201d Rowe said.<\/p>\n
Budget requests<\/p>\n
Rowe is again requesting four additional patrol positions he was not granted last year. The sheriff\u2019s office is looking at a $65.9 million budget \u2014 about $350,000 more than last year. Corbin said much of that increase is contractually obligated, driven by inflation-related price increases for inmate food and deputies\u2019 fuel.<\/p>\n
Rowe said it would take an additional $7.5 million to make salaries more competitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I send any message to that commissioner\u2019s court and to the citizens of Lubbock County is these people are not readily replaceable,\u201d Rowe said.<\/p>\n
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