sheriff has plan to keep deputies

Some of the things that make Stafford County attractive for job seekers--proximity to Washington, D.C., the Pentagon and Quantico--are challenges for Sheriff Charles Jett.

In December, the Stafford Board of Supervisors gave Jett's office $344,000 for bonuses for deputies. A month later, the board gave Jett permission to use the money as retention bonuses, effective immediately.

"I was trying to at least make the board aware that the red flags are there," Jett said. "We're losing valuable law enforcement officers to other organizations."

The Stafford Sheriff's Office, with a staff of 162, hired 18 new deputies last year. Jett said that those 18 came from an applicant pool of 1,983.

While finding deputies is not a problem, keeping them is. Once they are trained and have field experience, they become hot commodities.

"Agencies are attracted to young men and women with a state license and some experience," Jett said. "They are very marketable."

That is also true in other Virginia localities, but other localities don't have Fairfax County, Alexandria and the federal government in their backyard.

John Jones, the executive director of the Virginia Sheriff's Association, recognizes Stafford's predicament. He said that Stafford County's location makes it a natural feeder system for higher-paying departments to the north. He said that those agencies can save money by hiring deputies from Stafford who have already been trained.

"And federal agencies are still hiring," he said. "Add that and you've got a real problem."

If a Stafford deputy wants to embark on a more lucrative and oftentimes more stable law enforcement career, their options are limited only by how far they are willing to commute.

Jett said that it will take more than cash to keep deputies and dispatchers in Stafford. Establishing a clear career path with benefits, promotions and recognition could also help, especially on the dispatcher side, where the turnover rate is 21.6 percent for a staff of 32.

"Unfortunately, it's not seen as a career," Jett said of the 911 call-center positions. "But it's a pretty high-skill position, and we are extremely understaffed."

When a Stafford Sheriff's deputy or dispatcher leaves the department, they take a significant investment with them.

Jett calculates the total cost of training a deputy is $118,700--a significant cost to taxpayers, he noted. Experienced deputies who leave the department also take a wealth of practical knowledge that is hard to quantify or replace.

Jett has tackled part of the problem by requiring new hires to sign a two-year contract with his office. If a deputy leaves within the first two years of taking the job, they must reimburse the county $4,435--the most allowed by law, Jett said.

With that contract in place and the economy in a swoon, Jett and his staff thought they would see their deputy turnover rate drop from its current level of 7.8 percent.

"We have just not seen that," Jett said. "At a time when that investment means more, it makes sense to try to stem that tide now."

Jett would like to see a "healthier" turnover rate of 5 percent, and he hopes the retention bonus will do that.

Those deputies now under a two-year contract with the county are not eligible for the retention bonus, and neither are most higher-paid members of the command staff.

Jett targeted the bonus for deputies and dispatchers in the middle of the pay scale. If they sign a one-year contract, they will receive about $2,000. If the employee leaves before the year is up, they will be required to repay the bonus.

According to officials in the Sheriff's Office, contracts have been signed and deputies can expect their bonus checks by mid-February.

Starting salaries for Stafford field deputies are in the middle of the pack for comparable and neighboring counties, according to figures provided by Jett. At the high end of the scale, salaries slip toward the bottom of the pack in the midrange of the scale, then fall to dead last behind Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County.

A Prince William County field deputy at the top end of the pay scale can make nearly $23,000 more per year than he would in Stafford. If a law enforcement professional takes an entry-level federal position, he can expect his salary to be about $12,000 more per year than that of a Stafford County deputy.

The desire to flee the county for more money might become stronger after three to five years of employment, Jett said. By that time, deputies have the experience to earn significantly more elsewhere, but might make only a few thousand more per year than new recruits in Stafford.

"At the end of the day," he said, "it does come down to money. And it does affect morale."

Jett also attributes some of the turnover during that period to stress and burnout associated with the job.

"These young men and women see more raw emotion and violence than most people see in a lifetime. It really wears on them after a year or two," he said.

For Sgt. Ted Nelson, whether to work in Stafford is a quality-of-life question. He started his law enforcement career commuting to an agency in Northern Virginia, but has been with Stafford for the past eight years.

"This is my backyard, my community," Nelson said. "It's rewarding to make your own community safe."

He likes the people he works with in Stafford and thinks the retention bonus will make deputies think twice before they change careers or go elsewhere.

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors was able to give the Sheriff's Office $344,000 thanks to some found money.

A surprise $6.2 million surplus resulted from an accounting error involving a transfer between the school system and county government in 2007. The situation was discovered last year.

About $1 million went to county schools, which plan to use the funds for employee raises. The remaining $4.8 is in the county's reserve fund balance.

sheriff has plan to keep deputies

January 30, 2010 12:36 am