The Union County Sheriff's Office remains understaffed, and Sheriff Ricky Roberts said he is hoping to receive funding to provide deputies with raises in the coming year.
During this month's regular Quorum Court meeting, Roberts raised the issue, noting that police departments all over the country are facing the same problem, and thus are competing against one another to hire officers.
"We're going to start having a war within ourselves just to keep who we got," Roberts said. "Nobody wants to get in this business anymore, and it's getting scary."
Roberts said he currently has five open deputy positions, although three have been filled, pending the new hires' completion of training at the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy. Two positions remain unfilled.
On the jail side, Roberts said he made two new hires last week, and has two open positions.
"I've lost three (deputies) in the last week, two weeks," Roberts said. "A lot of it is, I mean, they're looking out for these higher paying jobs. If you look around, law enforcement is very competitive right now for those that's seeking to get in this line of work."
He noted that the Magnolia Police Department and Columbia County Sheriff's Office both recently raised officer pay to $50,000 annually, starting. Columbia County neighbors Union County.
"I just had a dispatcher leave – she started working at Clean Harbors and she doubled her salary just going a block and a half from the Sheriff's Office," Roberts said. "We can't compete with that... We can't compete with private industry."
But the pay isn't the only reason fewer people are becoming police officers, he said.
"Do you watch the news? A lot of it is things we see on the news. Some of the things I see, these officers are wrong, and it goes back to lack of training, or hiring the first person that comes through the door because I need people," Roberts said. "You've still got to vet people... Not everybody deserves to wear a Union County Sheriff's Office uniform."
The belief that bad apple polices officers spoil the whole bunch has turned a lot of young people away from the profession, Roberts said. Many are also uncomfortable with the level of scrutiny on officers, he said.
"The media and all the stuff that's going on around the world ... It's not like it used to be. There's a lot that plays into that fact," he said. "It's a tough job. Everywhere you go, you're on video, whether it's ours or somebody videoing us on their phones."
Fully staffed, the UCSO has 20 patrol deputies. Roberts said having too few deputies on the streets limits the amount of calls they can respond to.
"We're trying to meet that challenge and provide the service that our community deserves and expects," he said. "It's sad sometimes when we only have three deputies for a county our size. For the safety of these officers... a lot of times we'll back up on a call, and wait for backup before we go in, so it's a trickle-down effect."
An understaffed jail also poses problems, for both inmate and officer safety, he said.
"You're housing some of the hardest of hard criminals that have been arrested for violent crimes. We have people in our jail right now that's been deemed unfit to proceed, they're mentally challenged – they need mental health instead of a jail cell," Roberts said. "Our jailers have to deal with these folks on a daily basis, 24/7 – it's taxing... These jailers shouldn't have to be in an environment where they have to do this, put up with this."
He noted two recent incidents in the jail that led to officers being injured. In one, an inmate allegedly attacked a jailer after having a "meltdown." Roberts said the officer who was hit quit less than a week later, and he'd only been hired two weeks before the inciting incident.
Particularly frustrating, Roberts said, is the fact that many of the inmates at the county jail aren't really supposed to be there.
"It doesn't stop when you put them in jail, it's just starting. We house them until they're sentenced – until they go to court, found guilty – and then we house tem until the (Arkansas Department of Corrections) takes them, which has a backlog – which is another story --, which compounds the problem a lot of times," he said. "Same with mental – they're in there a year, two years, having trouble finding a bed for them in the state system to try to restore them.
"It's frustrating is what it is," Roberts said.
Meanwhile, the constant turnover isn't cheap, he said.
"Before we even offer them a job, you've got a pysch test -- $120 --, and a physical and drug screen -- $250. Then, if they pass those, you give them an offer of employment, then it's uniforms, belts, equipment, weapons if they're in patrol – there's a lot that goes into that," Roberts said. "While they're in the academy, they're paid just like they were in the streets. It's 13 weeks in the academy, then they go with a field training officer til they say he or she can handle the job."
Roberts told Justices of the Peace, during the Quorum Court meeting, that he wouldn't ask for a raise during then-upcoming county budget talks; instead, he said this week, he would show them why one was needed.
"They understand the need. I think they understand where we're coming from. We either get on the front line, or we're going to have to change some things," he said. "I can't tell anybody no... I'm in law enforcements, and it's serve and protect. I need to be in the business of serving as much as I'm in the business of protecting."