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Some tasks for sheriff's office rise
Staffing still a hot issue
Source:
Butler Eagle
Written by:
Tom Victoria
Published:
August 18, 2010
Although inmate transportation decreased this year because the new Butler County Prison opened last summer, other tasks handled by the sheriff's office increased.
Warrants made the biggest jump. From January through June 2009, 396 people were arrested on warrants. For the same period this year, 744 arrests were made with a total of 1,868 warrants issued.
Sheriff Mike Slupe said the statistics were compiled to quantify the office's workload.
"The current full-time staff has made extraordinary efforts to best serve the county and its residents," he said.
The following statistics show other increases during the same six-month period each year:
• Protection from abuse orders rose slightly from 186 to 208.
• Sheriff's sales for real estate increased from 298 to 415. Sales for personal property went from 71 to 143.
• Incident reports, which include calls in the government center and courthouse as well as assisting other law enforcement agencies with such incidents as vehicle accidents, rose from 16 to 34.
Not every part of the office's workload increased. The following items decreased:
• The largest decline was inmate transports, which dropped from 2,744 to 1,834.
• The issuance of gun permits also dropped, decreasing from 1,911 to 1,315.
Staffing for the office was a point of contention in 2009 among county officials. The county salary board last year cut four deputy posts. Three more were set to be cut in 2010 through attrition.
The board's actions led to to a lawsuit by then Sheriff Dennis Rickard, which did not resolve the dispute.
The salary board in April recanted and saved two of the posts from the chopping block.
Slupe stopped short of saying more jobs should be restored, but said staffing is an issue.
"We have supplemented the staff with several part-timers, but the unfortunate part about part-time workers is their availability," he said.
Slupe said he was grateful the salary board, which is comprised of the three county commissioners, controller and respective row officer (Slupe in this case), kept the two deputy posts.
"I honestly don't know what I would have done if the vote had gone the other way," he said.
Commissioners Dale Pinkerton and Jim Lokhaiser sided with Slupe in that 3-2 vote. Commissioner James Kennedy and Jack McMillin dissented.
Slupe pointed out only some types of court hearings no longer necessitate inmates being brought from the prison to the courthouse.
"The bottom line is we are not defined by being a transport agency," Slupe said, referring to his office's other duties.
Kennedy pointed out the judges determine where court hearings are held.
He and McMillin agreed the sheriff's office has yet to provide sufficient information to determine if there is a staffing issue.
McMillin said staffing hours need to be tracked in a time study.
"That's really the bottom line for me — I want to see hard facts," he said.
Kennedy also wants to see how the deputies' hours relate to the workload.
"I've got to know why and when," he said.
Lokhaiser also said it was premature to make any determinations about staffing. Pinkerton was on vacation this week.
McMillin said there has yet to be conclusive data proving the office is understaffed, unlike the expansion of emergency services personnel in which two 911 dispatcher jobs recently were created.
He said the number of 911 calls can be linked to overtime by dispatchers.
Slupe said his office in conjunction with Slippery Rock University staff still is compiling data for a review of the office's needs.
He said the resulting study might not be exactly what salary board members are seeking as that has not been spelled out in writing.
"We are looking at our staff and our needs, period," Slupe said.
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