San Benito County grapples with low deputy staffing
jose.romo
SAN BENITO COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) — Trouble remains for the San Benito Sheriff’s Office as it battles an ongoing county budget deficit and subsequently a significant staffing shortage.
“It’s been very clear we’re not cutting public safety,” District 5 Supervisor Ignacio Velasquez said. “(The Sheriff Department) does have vacancies. He’s trying to fill the funding is there for those vacancies; it’s just having a tough time, as agencies around the state and the country are having a hard time finding new people’s staff.”
In 2024, a report by the Pacific Research Institute stated their sheriff’s office was one of the state’s lowest-staffed agencies despite the county being one of the fastest growing in California from 2020 to 2023. At the time, the sheriff’s office staffed 17 deputies of the 40 recommended.
“I think it’s a lot of recruitment, really going out, trying to find people that want to get a career in public safety,” Velasquez adds. “A lot of young people are out there looking for a career. We really gotta make the effort of reaching out to them, bringing them in.
Sheriff Eric Taylor spoke out on Monday after an inmate seriously injured a sergeant and several corrections officers. In a press release, he said, “Our jail continues to operate below recommended staffing levels, and I firmly believe that some of these injuries could have been prevented had we been adequately staffed.”
“I just want to say, thoughts and prayers with the jail personnel. I hope they’re recovering,” District 2 Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki showing appreciation for county staff. “I will say that the county board, last year, we got behind and championed a very, very significant increase in compensation to the jail officers, the corrections officers.”
In 2024, the county approved a $400 thousand boost for correctional staff compensation in efforts to increase recruitment and retention.
Kosmicki adds, “We’re having significant budget challenges, so I think it really does say a lot how much we do get behind our public safety employees that we were willing to implement those increases, but yeah, we were like other jurisdictions were facing really significant budget challenges.”
Just last month, the sheriff reported ot the county supervisors saying they have 29 filled positions with ten job openings, of which four of those remain frozen. The state recommendation, however, is to staff 40 deputies for safe operations.