The shortage of sheriff’s deputies in Richmond County is serious enough to pose a risk to public safety, say some county commissioners.
District 7 Commissioner Sean Frantom says he is watching the situation closely and is alarmed that the Sheriff’s Office currently has 155 openings for road and jail deputies.
While no one has offered an official explanation for the deputy shortage in Richmond County, District 10 Commissioner John Clarke surmised that pay was not the cause. He said Richmond County road deputies are paid on par with adjoining counties. He believes there must be other reasons law men and women do not want to work in Richmond County.
A source close to the situation said that the FY2022 budget allowed the sheriff to give raises. The source added that supervisors were given an $11,000 annual raise; the road deputies received $2,600.
A recent radio advertisement from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office speaks directly to the dire situation posed by the deputy shortage.
The ad promises competitive pay, retirement benefits, training for non-certified applicants and urges people to apply immediately.
“Walk-ins are welcome,” the ad states.
Two sources within law enforcement, who wish not to be named, say the department is so short-staffed that eight deputies, one from each zone per shift, are now required to spend six hours of their road shift working at the jail.
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Sgt. William McCarty, public information officer for the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed deputies are being taken off the street to work in the jail. Both deputies and supervisors are being given the opportunity to volunteer for overtime work at the jail.
“We are all pitching in,” McCarty said.
Maj. Steve Morris of the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that his office is over 90% staffed with 391 road deputies. Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams says his department is currently offering three positions, not because of a shortage of employees but because of departmental growth.
Williams says he constantly recruits for good candidates and even found one, ironically enough, at the local Dunkin’ Donuts.
“I met a young man there, and we struck up a conversation. He was clearly a good candidate, so I put him through the Academy where he passed with flying colors and is showing himself to be a great deputy,” Williams said.
Meanwhile, in Richmond County, five jailers have recently been arrested for selling contraband to inmates. Five other deputies have been fired in the past year over charges ranging from DUI to road rage, according to press reports.
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After the December arrests at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center, Sheriff’s Office personnel conducted an extensive sweep of all housing pods in the jail. That operation yielded contraband in the form of multiple homemade weapons (shanks), cell phones, tobacco products, homemade alcohol, pills and synthetic drugs.
Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree is a Constitutional office; therefore, he does not have to keep the Augusta Commission informed of his staffing situation.
“We only talk (to Roundtree) when it is budget time. There are no scheduled meetings, no plan of action, and I feel that communication is part of the problem Richmond County faces,” Frantom said.
Clarke agrees and says while the commission cannot compel the sheriff to meet with commission members, they can demand that exit interviews be conducted and the findings turned over to the Public Safety Committee.
“If they are not leaving over pay, then it has to be something else, and we need to find out what that something else is,” Clark said.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
