Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Detention Staffing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sheriff: Durham County detention center short 89 officers; commissioners request data
Summary
Sheriff Clarence Birkhead told the board the detention center has 89 vacancies (out of 224 FTEs), creating pods with single officers and mandatory overtime; commissioners asked for detailed staffing, screening and program-impact data.
Sheriff Clarence Birkhead told commissioners the county detention center is operating with a significant shortfall of detention officers: "we have 89 vacancies in the detention center," he said, adding that some pods are operating with only one detention officer on shift.
Birkhead and his captains described operational impacts including frequent mandatory overtime, a rise in inmate-on-officer assaults since the pandemic, and discovery of homemade weapons in the facility. Commissioners asked for hard data on average length of stay, numbers screened for mental illness, impacts on programs (MAT, STAR, GED) and how staffing shortages affect pod operations. The sheriff said the detention center is staffed to statutory requirements where possible but that the shortfall forces reassignment of deputies and strains programming; he offered to supply raw numbers and stay-time breakdowns for the board—s follow-up.
