Sheriff's Office Schedule Changes

Date:       April 28, 2016
Re:          Sheriff’s Office Schedule Changes

The Mono County Sheriff’s Office experienced substantial fiscal reductions to its budget due to the economic downturn of recent years.  Our budget for this fiscal year (15/16) is two-thirds of what it was just five years ago.  Four Deputy Sheriff vacant positions were “frozen” in the last fiscal year (14/15) budget.  Additionally, in the spirit of shared sacrifice, the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association agreed to contract concessions, taking furloughs and raising the employee contribution to the California Public Employees Retirement System.

In the current budget, the Sheriff’s Office was allocated funding for the last two fiscal year quarters to fill two of the four vacant Deputy Sheriff positions and all of Public Safety Officer (jailer and dispatcher) positions.  Due to attrition, the Sheriff’s Office has lost additional personnel, bringing our current vacancies to six (6) Deputy Sheriff and five (5) Public Safety Officer positions.  We anticipate three (3) additional field Deputies leaving the force in the upcoming months.  Recent recruiting efforts and application processes have not been successful in filling most of those vacancies.

The Sheriff’s Office has been staffing patrol assignments this past year with a combination of overtime and administrative personnel working the field responding to calls for service.  This is a less than ideal situation as the long hours have taken a toll on the entire force.  With our current staffing levels and anticipated departures, this situation mandates that field patrol force hours be reduced from the current seven-day coverage of 6 a.m. to midnight to seven-day coverage from noon to midnight.  We will continue to have a supervisor on-duty from 6 a.m. to midnight every day.  Administrative personnel will supplement the patrol force whenever possible.

Mono County residents and visitors are encouraged to continue to request calls for service as our dispatch is staffed 24 hours a day.  Off-hour request necessitating a response will require the response of field personnel from their residence.  The Sheriff’s Office has a responsibility to provide law enforcement service, and we will continue to provide the best service possible, given the resources we have.

We are continuing our recruitment efforts, searching for quality men and women with law enforcement experience who have the desire to live and work in Mono County.  The Mono County Sheriff’s Office welcomes community comments and input as we work for a long term solution.