Clear Creek sheriff requests dedicated investigations sergeant, training funds as caseloads rise
Loading...
Summary
Sheriff's office staff said rising burglaries and an increase in digital evidence workloads require a dedicated investigations sergeant and additional training funding, and they urged commissioners to advance those items for further review.
Sheriff's office presenters told the County Board that rising burglary counts and increased digital evidence workloads prompted a request to reassign a patrol sergeant to a permanent investigations sergeant and to add oversight for case management.
Martin, the sheriff's office presenter, said the department removed a $7,300 inmate-tracking contract and a $30,000 PTO payout from its proposal, trimmed capital requests and sought to preserve existing line items from the 2025 budget. He said the department also is studying photo-radar vendors that would take about 30% of citation revenue, potentially producing enforcement benefits with minimal upfront cost.
"We feel that being adding flock and then looking at what our caseload is recently in investigations, it's gone up," Martin said, describing an incident simplified in records as a single case that contained more than 30 burglaries. He said investigators are busy and that supervisors are needed to provide oversight and case management as patrol staff hand more investigations to detectives.
The sheriff's office also requested an increase in the training line after a multiyear grant that previously covered training expired. The department asked to raise training funding from its current level to cover academy slots for two recruits and to support leadership and command-level training for inexperienced staff.
On pay, the office asked the board to fund step increases that align deputies with a standardized step plan and to avoid pay compression between deputies and sergeants. Commissioners discussed a variety of options and ultimately instructed staff to advance a full-cost step package estimated at about $90,000 to the next workshop.
Commissioners generally supported advancing the investigation-sergeant request to the next budget session but asked staff to refine timing and cost details. Several members suggested revisiting some requests in six months after revenue and other budget items are clearer.
Outcome: Commissioners agreed to move the investigation-sergeant request and the $90,000 step-increase package forward for further consideration at the next workshop and instructed staff to return with refined cost estimates and timing options.
