by David Leonhardi
I want to congratulate Tony Ray who was appointed as our Sheriff last month. A unanimous vote from our County Supervisors appointed Sheriff Ray to lead our department until a new sheriff is elected and takes over in January. The DSA was very active in advocating for Sheriff Ray to be selected. While all the candidates were familiar with our department, Sheriff Ray was the only active member of the department and the DSA. As the most recent Assistant Sheriff in charge of human resources, the DSA felt he was the most qualified candidate to find solutions and lead us through the worst staffing crisis in the history of the Sheriff’s department.
On that note, the staffing issues, and mandatory overtime in particular have been a topic of discussion at every DSA meeting. We know the deputies are struggling and the demands from our department are taking a toll on families and mental health. The DSA is committed to working with the department to find solutions to ease the burden of mandatory overtime on our deputies. We’ve suggested many ideas, such as allowing sergeants to work deputy positions on overtime, recruiting 960 re-hires to work in the jails, and asking reserve deputies to provide hospital relief. We’ve had discussions about many other potential solutions as well. I personally believe improvements to our workers compensation system can get deputies the appropriate medical treatment, and back to work in a much more timely manner. Many people don’t realize the staffing impact that injured deputies who are TTD take on the overall staffing numbers. Reducing that number could help significantly.
I wish I could write this article with confidence that these issues will be resolved quickly, but I believe the only true solution to the staffing issues is the one thing that doesn’t currently exist, additional bodies. It will take time to get more deputies to fill the vacant positions and get our detentions deputies the relief they need and deserve. Until then, we will work with the department and anyone else who is committed to helping solve these problems. The solutions are not easy, and we all need help. I encourage all deputies to send me their ideas to help the situation. The department is listening, and has expressed their desire to end mandatory overtime as soon as possible.
Lastly, the DSA is making sure that the department isn’t the only one listening to our staffing concerns. The County of San Diego needs to be aware of our staffing crisis as well. Our inability to fill vacant positions is evidence that significant improvements in pay and benefits will be necessary to fix our problems and provide the appropriate services to the citizens of San Diego County. The DSA is already planning and preparing to make our best arguments when the time comes to negotiate our next labor contract. Our current contract expires in July 2023, and we will likely start discussions a few months prior to that. With that being said, I want to make clear any rumors deputies are hearing about a potential contract are completely false or do not involve us at all. We have not even begun the process of discussing the issues. I am committed to making sure the DSA listens to our members and involves them as much as possible in the process of trying to reach an agreement with the County. Thank you all for your sacrifices and selfless work through all of these challenges. While you are working long hours and missing your families, I want to assure each of you the DSA is working just as hard and are completely committed to improving your pay, benefits and working conditions.