Whatcom deputies facing a ‘perfect storm.’ Here’s how the sheriff is responding
Whatcom County is weathering a “perfect storm” affecting law enforcement amid a pandemic crime wave, Sheriff Bill Elfo told the County Council this week.
Speaking to the council’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, Elfo outlined a six-year plan to increase staffing and address future law-enforcement needs on Tuesday, Sept. 27.
In a half-hour presentation, Elfo described several issues that the Sheriff’s Office is coping with, including recent statewide law-enforcement reforms, a staffing shortage, and a lack of jail space from an aging and inadequate facility with COVID-19 booking limits.
“Our community is facing increased challenges in terms of maintaining public safety,” Elfo told the committee.
“Like most law-enforcement agencies in Washington state, Whatcom County is experiencing an exodus of an unusually high number of well-trained, very competent professional officers,” he said.
But Elfo predicted that staffing levels will return to normal within six months to a year amid a recent focus on hiring that includes trained peace officers.
“Things aren’t very good right now. But we want to rise like a phoenix out of the ashes,” he said.
A total of 90 deputy positions are funded, but there are seven vacancies with five more openings likely by early 2023, he said.
Another three officers are off the job with injuries and four are on family and medical leave.
But Elfo said the biggest reason that deputies are leaving is recent police-accountability laws, higher salaries elsewhere, and disillusionment.
“During exit interviews, all cited changes to so-called police-reform legislation that increased their exposure to civil and criminal liability, made what are perceived as unfair changes to the process for decertification or revoking their professional license, as well as laws that have made it more difficult for them to protect the public and carry out their sworn duties as driving factors,” Elfo said.
That’s left several units short-handed, including the major crimes detective unit and the neighborhood deputy program.
Both the mental health deputy and the GRACE programs are being maintained, he said. GRACE connects people who frequently interact with law enforcement to other services.
“To respond to current staffing shortages on the law-enforcement side, we have placed a priority on responding to emergency and in-progress calls and maintaining our basic 24/7 response capabilities. As a result, we have had to reduce or suspend some of the services provided by some of our specialty units and redeploy deputies from special assignments to general patrol,” he said.
Elfo’s plan is to resume full staffing in all programs by the last quarter of 2023, or about a year from now, he told the council.
He also said that he’s developed a six-year plan to add personnel at a rate of five deputies annually and boost staffing closer to a statewide benchmark.
“At the end of the six-year plan. if everything is accomplished and the population of the county is stable, we will reach the statewide average of 1.25 officers per 1,000 residents,” Elfo said.
Currently, the Sheriff’s Office ratio is just less than one deputy for each 1,000 residents, the lowest percentage of deputies to residents of any department in Whatcom County, he said.
