In Merced County, which stretches from the Sierra Nevada foothills west across vast acres of orchards and farmland, Sheriff Vern Warnke increasingly finds himself the only law enforcement officer available to answer a call for help. Most recently, the department received a call from a woman regarding a domestic dispute, saying her husband had a gun.
With no deputies in close range, Warnke reported to the scene, wearing his signature cowboy hat and his badge hung around his neck. He found a man pacing with a loaded gun tucked into his waistband and managed to deescalate the situation. In February, Warnke posted a video that amounted to a plea for help, warning residents that the staffing shortage was now so severe calls for service could go unheeded. The office typically has deputies who handle patrol duties, but 20 of those spots are vacant.
Of the spots designated for custodial deputies, who work at correctional facilities, 23 are vacant. The investigative unit, budgeted as an person team, is down to eight.
And dispatch has four vacancies in a staff of Warnke said the vacancies have mounted in recent months and his pleas to the county Board of Supervisors to increase his budget and give him control over how funds are allocated have gone unheeded. A lieutenant and two sergeants are covering dispatch shifts. If someone calls in sick, colleagues are asked to work beyond their hour shifts. One dispatcher clocked more than hours of overtime over the course of a year.
Our patrol deputies are understaffed and overworked. The struggle to fill law enforcement ranks is a challenge in many California communities, urban and rural. The number of patrol officers per , residents is at its lowest point since at least , according to a January report from the Public Policy Institute of California.
