The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department saw a reduction in overtime last year but still paid 14,805 hours in overtime wages as the department continued to deal with staffing shortages and keeping enough deputies on the road while trying at the same time to maintain a jail staff.
The department, which averaged roughly 40 hours of overtime wages per day, paid out $610,612 in overtime over the course of the year, according to Bartholomew County Sheriff Chris Lane. By comparison, the department paid 15,354 in overtime hours totaling $632,463 in 2022.
The amount of overtime that the sheriff’s department incurred the past couple years has been largely driven by staffing shortages. At one point last year, there were 15 openings for corrections officers who work inside the Bartholomew County Jail and six openings for patrol deputies.
But the staffing situation has improved as of recent days, with the Bartholomew County Jail set to potentially be fully staffed in a couple weeks for the first time in years, Lane said.
“If everything works out OK… hopefully within the next couple weeks we’ll be fully staffed in the jail, which that probably not happened in years,” Lane said.
However, the department is still down five patrol deputies. Lane said the most recent hiring process saw more than 90 applicants, though only about a third of them showed up for the written test.
“We did a lot of marketing, newspaper ads, billboards, Facebook, other social media (platforms) just to try to get the word out,” Lane said. “I think that did draw a lot more interest, and we did have a lot of applications. …I think probably every law enforcement agency in the country is struggling to fill positions right now.”
The reliance on overtime also has raised concerns at the department about burnout and fatigue among deputies and corrections officers. The sheriff’s department is required by law to keep a certain number of deputies on the road each shift, and a certain number of people are required to staff the jail.
Last year, Lane said that with so many vacancies, the department had to resort to shuffling people around and having existing staff work overtime to meet the headcount requirements. That resulted in some deputies and corrections officers working upwards of around 80 hours in a week without a day off.
“One of my biggest concerns is burnout and employee retention and just being able to make adequate staffing,” Lane said. “…It’s not unique to us. There are departments across the country that are a lot worse than we are. You hear those stories that departments are 30% and 40% down on their staffing.”
Even if the sheriff’s department filled all of those positions now, new hires aren’t able to start patrolling immediately. Generally, new hires have to attend the law enforcement training for 16 weeks and then do field training for about three to four months.
“I’ve got one young man that’s in the field training program,” Lane said. “He graduated from the academy in December. He’ll be cut loose on his own probably (in March). …The next academy class is in May. My gut tells me that there’s probably a good chance that academy may already be full.”
“Unless I am able to hire somebody that already had (completed) the academy, they may not go to the academy until August,” he added. “You’re looking at probably about March of next year when they’re going to be (patrolling on their own).”
Through the use of the data-based scorecard and various control measures, the sheriff’s office is returning approximately $585,000 of its $13,000,000 budget for 2023, with 80% of these funds being excess salaries and benefits as a result of staffing shortages throughout a majority of the year.
“As sheriff, I made a commitment to manage the Sheriff’s Office budget like a business. Our first year efforts have made a sizable difference in this year’s budget from that of 2022. I have a duty to ensure the services that my office provides continue to improve as we manage day to day operations, all while being cognizant of officer safety. I also have a responsibility to county taxpayers to continue to operate conscientiously without sacrificing the safety and services provided to our community. I look forward to 2024, and to the continued advancement of the Sheriff’s Office as we use data as a guide for budgetary decisions.”
