The County budget approved last week also bolsters public safety with funding for Sheriff deputies and attorneys in the District Attorney’s office.
One of the outcomes from the great recession of 2008 was freezing critical staff positions in the Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office. The new budget funds four Sheriff patrol positions that had been frozen and adds three new criminalist positions, thus allowing two deputies and a sergeant to return to patrol work. That means we will have seven more officers on patrol.
Similarly, District Attorney Bob Lee requested that the Board support unfreezing two staff positions and adding two criminal attorney positions. The DA’s office is the end point for all arrests within the county, and workload has increased in the past few years. This trend that will continue with the deployment of seven additional law enforcement officers within the county as well as an increase of law enforcement officers in each of the four cities.