Filling patrol officer and jail guard positions in the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department has been a priority in 2019 – however, no matter what the department tries, nothing seems to be working.
According to the latest vacancy numbers for the department, requested from the county by the Rhino Times, the number of vacant positions has now grown to 95 in the department that has about 660 employees.
As of Tuesday, Oct. 1, the Sheriff’s Department had 58 vacancies in detention positions, 32 in deputy sheriff’s positions and 5 in administration.
Vacancy numbers in the department were already alarmingly high in early September when the department faced 90 vacancies. At that time, the department had 54 detention officer vacancies, 32 deputy sheriff vacancies and 4 vacancies in administration.
And those September numbers were up from the spring. In April, there were 78 vacant positions in the Sheriff’s Department, and, at that time, many department officials were wringing their hands over the fact that the number was that high.
Then and now, department officials have been scrambling to do all they can to attract new officers. That includes holding job fairs, putting out press releases to local media to let the public know of the need – and taking other steps as well, but nothing has seemed to help.
Despite those efforts, the number of open positions has continued to grow. Many county officials are hoping that a new county pay plan, adopted last month, will help. That plan significantly upped county pay for a lot of county employees – including those in the Sheriff’s Department.
The Sheriff Department’s position vacancies are by choice, I have requested to apply back in 2018 by the Sheriff HR officials because of my experience, with state corrections experiences in two states and a Masters level degree and after passing all the requirements to include background they told me I was unqualified.
With respect to the issue of shortage at Guilford County Sheriff’s Department personnel shortage, I think the hiring process moves extremely too slow. By the time applicants are called back, they have already taken jobs elsewhere. I personally witness this happening to an applicant who has previous experience as a city police and county sheriff/ detention officer from another state; as well as a military veteran. Bills can’t continue to be unpaid while waiting for Guilford County dragging. The first time he put an application in at Guilford County in 2012, he never got a call back. He moved to another state and applied for sheriff/ detention officer and was working within 6 weeks. So maybe Guilford County should access their process. Applicants have to obtain their own certified criminal background checks. Is there a way for one county to contact another county directly to obtain this?
As long as there is a shortage of this magnitude, current officers will continue to be over worked and the shortage may continue to grow.