Pima County Sheriff’s Department seeking new deputies, officers currently working overtime to fill vacancies

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - The Pima County Sheriff’s Department kicks off its search for new deputies on August 25th. But the need for these positions has been high long before then.

“With a department of our size, there’s always going to be kind of a revolving door,” said Deputy Downing. “We’ve got people that are retiring monthly, and they can retire in one day, but it takes us a significant amount of time to train their replacements.”

According to a memorandum in June, the sheriff’s department was 3.3 million dollars over budget for the 2022 to 2023 fiscal year, and part of that was due to officers working overtime to make up for the vacancies.

Deputies say they use social media and community events to recruit people like college students and the military to stay ahead of the game.

But still, the department says it’s not enough.

“All we can do is try to attract as many applicants as possible and stay ahead, which is very hard to do, it’s hard for any agency,” said Deputy Downing.

Downing says a big reason for these failures is the perception of law enforcement. He hopes that as people are more informed of the benefits of jobs for themselves and benefit others, more people will come to serve in the future.

“It’s not always about traffic stops or arresting people; you can go to jobs where you may never do that again. There’s just so much diversity in law enforcement that I think anyone can find a niche that would be very rewarding for them.”

Along with deputy sheriffs, the department also seeks people to fill other positions like correction officers and 911 dispatchers. For more information, click here.

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