Sheriff’s office reports improved staffing, pressing capital needs for RMS and vehicles

A sheriff’s office representative summarized staffing gains and capital requests during the county’s Sept. 29 budget continuation, saying vacancies for deputy positions have dropped to single digits after intensive hiring and background processing efforts.

"I never thought in my career I'd ever see single digit numbers like [this]," the presenter said, describing a recruiting push and use of unfunded recruitment positions to accelerate background processing.

The sheriff’s presentation said the office reduced projected overtime nearly a million dollars by improving staffing rollouts, which contributed to bringing the 2026 budget closer to target. Presenters noted continued operational costs and listed capital priorities:

- Records management system (RMS) migration: the county is preparing to move from the Tyler/New World CAD/RMS platform to Hexagon Records Management as part of a regional CAD/RMS transition. The total implementation cost was presented as roughly $2.6 million; the sheriff’s proportional capital share was shown in the presentation at approximately $1.025 million (upfront implementation cost) with ongoing annual fees expected to be similar to current payments for the existing system.

- Patrol vehicles: the sheriff’s office requested 10 patrol vehicles for 2026 to maintain a sustainable fleet buffer as staffing reaches higher levels.

- Training center and range operations: the office reported continuing revenue from the Air Force and other contracts, and noted efforts to designate the training center as a regional facility to access additional grant revenue.

- Other capital: a marine/diving boat, replacement dihydrogen chamber for forensics, and replacement mobile command vehicle were listed; presenters suggested the mobile command vehicle replacement was a lower priority.

Presenters noted statewide legislative work — the WOSFIC air‑support funding initiative — has been part of the sheriff’s legislative agenda and could help offset statewide air support costs if enacted.

The sheriff’s office also said SCOPE volunteer operations will be brought into the sheriff’s office payroll/administration for legal and liability consistency; volunteers will retain the SCOPE brand but become sheriff’s office volunteers under a proposed advisory board model.

Ending: The sheriff’s office asked the county to consider capital investments that match the department’s transition to near‑full staffing and to continue coordinating with regional partners on RMS contracting and shared hosting through the regional dispatch organization (Shrek).