Garcia talks recruitment again

New Sheriff Adrian Garcia echoes a theme he sounded at his swearing-in about hiring more deputies to increase patrols.

Garcia promised to put more "boots on the ground" in his inaugural address Sunday, saying about 800 deputies now patrol an area that would be the seventh-largest U.S. city.

The county's new top lawman declined to specify how many more deputies he believes the department needs and how they would be used, saying in an interview this week that he and his top aides still are assessing the staffing.

He said his first priority will be filling about 60 vacant positions in the patrol division, and he promised to personally recruit as many new deputies as he could.

"I will do everything possible every day to attract people to this department," said Garcia, a Democratic former Houston police officer and city councilman who soundly defeated 14-year incumbent Republican Tommy Thomas in November.

In this economy, it should be a little easier to do that. There ought to be more people looking for work, which will help to overcome some of the issues of competition from other law enforcement agencies, prisons, and the military. The downturn is an opportunity for all of those entities to relieve their staffing shortages. It's also an opportunity for those who have somewhat different motives.

Commissioner Steve Radack said the economic slump may help the county lure new recruits without spending more money on salaries or benefits.

"There's some tough times ahead, so let's not just say, 'OK, we're increasing pay here; we're increasing pay there,' " Radack said.

He said Garcia should fill all the positions he has before asking the court for more employees.

Never turn down a chance to put the squeeze on salaries, I guess. While there will surely be a larger pool of applicants for the Sheriff's Department from which to choose, let's not lose sight of the fact that they won't be the only such agencies hiring. HPD, for one, is pretty busy recruiting as well. Don't get too cheap or you may miss out.

Garcia said he would like to move some or all of the 425 deputies assigned to the jail to patrol jobs, but they would have to be replaced by civilian jailers.

The Sheriff's Department historically has struggled to find people willing to take that job, though nearly all of the approximately 630 civilian positions in the jail currently are filled.

Getting deputies out of jail duty would be a big step forward in getting more "boots on the ground". Having a need for fewer guards would help, and would also go towards assuaging Commissioner Radack's budgetary concerns. Nice how it all works out, isn't it?

Posted by Charles Kuffner on January 07, 2009 to Local politics