The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department isn’t just battling crime right now – it’s also battling vacancies.
According to the Guilford County Human Resources Department, there are currently 78 vacant positions in the Sheriff’s Department. That’s up slightly from the end of March when there were 74 vacancies with the following breakdown: 22 vacant deputy sheriff’s positions, 45 detention officer positions and 7 administrative slots. The Sheriff’s Department is a large department with over 600 positions but that is, by all accounts, a very high number of vacancies historically, and it’s much higher than when Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers became sheriff at the start of December.
The department is attempting to address the issue. Max Benbassat, the public information officer for the department, pointed out this week that, for years, the department has had problems filling detention jobs.
“Detention Officer positions have always had vacancies dating back to the prior administration,” Benbassat wrote in an email. “We now have a large number of vacancies both in detention and deputy sheriff positions due to retirements and resignations to accept jobs with more competitive salaries. For instance, we have had a number of officers leave to go to our neighboring agency, Greensboro Police Department, where their starting salaries has been in excess of $50,000 with more competitive benefits.”
While Rogers and his top staff have been pointing to a need for higher pay as the reason for the vacancy problems, others have pointed out that many of the vacancies were created on a single day: when Rogers came in as the new sheriff and conducted a wholesale firing of any department employee that he considered too “loyal” to former Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes. Critics also point out that some employees, after Rogers came on, took jobs in other law enforcement departments for lower pay, while others have left for new fields entirely,
Regardless of the reason behind the vacancies, the department is trying to address the problem. The Sheriff’s Department is actively encouraging local media to report its need for workers, is aggressively seeking applicants in other ways and will be an active presence at the 2019 Spring Job Fair at the Greensboro Coliseum on Wednesday, April 17.
Benbassat said it’s a tough time to fill positions because there are other factors at play.
“In addition to lower wages, Guilford County also no longer offers many of the incentives they did in the past (i.e. Longevity pay, Medical benefits upon retirement, savings bonds through payroll deduction, etc.),” he wrote.
Benbassat stated that, in the past, many of those who sought jobs in law enforcement did so because they wanted to be in a public service position where they were protecting public safety – but now other jobs may look more attractive to them.
“At the end of the day, it’s about being able to adequately take care of yourself and your family,” he wrote. “Outside of law enforcement, people have realized they can make more money with a lot less risk or liability and/or they can go to agencies where the pay is commensurate to the daily risk and abuse by irate citizens either upon arrest or while incarcerated.”
He claimed that now, more than ever, there’s a chance for anyone of any race or background to be promoted in the Sheriff’s Department.
“The good news is the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office now has the greatest diversity of officers in promoted positions than in the history of the agency,” he said. “That means, if you are qualified for the job or the promotion then [if] you are selected nothing else matters.”
The reason for the shortage is no one wants to work for the sheriff, those that stay have bills to pay while others have choices. The sheriff claims he is a new man but my mom always said a wolf sheds his fur, not his ways. The Sheriff can bring in who he wants to try to add trust to the department, but when you are on a train wreck, it don’t matter.
Scott,
Isn’t one of the roles of a reporter to fact check the assertions of authorities?
Just because you accurately report what someone writes in an email doesn’t means your job is done (unless you are just a mouthpiece). If what he writes is provably false, you have a professional obligation to tell us.
The Sheriff’s public relations officer was not correct when he claimed that the starting salary for Greensboro police officers is “in excess of $50,000.” It may serve someone’s preferred narrative to claim that, but is the Rhino here to serve the sheriff’s office or its readers?
You should align the spokesperson’s assertions with the facts. Go ahead and tell us he claims that deputies are leaving for the GPD because the starting salary there is $50k+, but then also tell us what the actual starting salary is for a GPD officer so that we can have some perspective on the veracity of the spokesperson’s explanation. (And so that you won’t be complicit in spreading false information.)
“The good news is the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office now has the greatest diversity of officers in promoted positions than in the history of the agency,” he said. “That means, if you are qualified for the job or the promotion then [if] you are selected nothing else matters.”
So the insinuation, as I read it, is that until Rogers came into the office all the other sheriffs before him were promoting or hiring on the basis of factors (key word here “diversity”) other then qualifications. And that this supposed shortcoming has been corrected in the very short time Rogers has been in office.
A hint…words have meanings
Smells like desperation to find warm bodies…Here’s an idea…stop making patrol deputies start out in the jail. NO ONE who works patrol would ever lateral to the Sheriff’s Office because they would have to go to the jail for however long…There is a reason people are leaving in droves and it is not because of money…
The reason officers are leaving is NOT no new hires are coming in is not because of this “jail policy”. Keep in mind the Sheriffs Iffice is now very dangerously low on detention officers as well. The detention officers pay is not just the highest in the state, but also ranks around the 14th highest in the country. Rogers is the problem. He is good at pointing blame on everything and everyone except himself. The only officers that’s still there are there for only two reasons; they can’t find another job equivalent to their current career and salary and/or they may lose their pension. This is historic. The GCSO has never been this low on personnel and sadly it will get to the point where Rogers will begin pulling detectives from crime investigations and placing them on the road for routine patrol. At that time, the Guilford County Citizens will truly suffer and Rogers needs to take a hard look in the mirror for who caused this!
If you had actually read my post you would have read I never used the words “new hire.” I said no one will ever lateral to the GCSO from another agency because they don’t want to get stuck in the jail…I also said, “There is a reason people are leaving in droves and it is not because of money…” Systemic failure of the “leader” is what the problem is. Please take time to actually read someone’s post and not just stopping after getting triggered by some words.
If there was better leadership at the sheriffs office, these officers would not leave. It’s not the pay.