Board to Study Use of Civilian Guards

Ventura County supervisors will look into whether they can save money by staffing jails with civilian correctional officers instead of sheriff’s deputies.

Although the move is expected to meet resistance from Sheriff Bob Brooks and the deputies’ union, supervisors said Tuesday that it makes sense to explore whether long-term savings can be realized. Facing a $39-million budget shortfall, the county needs to squeeze every extra dollar it can, board members said.

“If this has the potential for saving funds without jeopardizing safety, I can support it,” Supervisor Linda Parks said.

Leaders of the 150-member union representing the civilian correctional officers, which is pushing for the study, said the county could save as much as $5.4 million annually by making the change.

But Brooks has said his own investigation showed any savings would be minimal because of higher employee training and benefit costs.

Still, the Sheriff’s Department is prepared to sit down with the correctional officers union and the county executive’s staff to go over costs, Undersheriff Craig Husband said.

“We have all the salary and benefit figures, so we will look at what those costs are,” Husband said.

“But we imagine that since 2002, the last time the [corrections] union proposed this change, that any savings has shrunk because they have had a 25% raise,” he added.

Civilians already work beside 197 sheriff’s deputies in the county’s two main jails, booking inmates, searching cells and breaking up fights, said Lou Preiczer, president of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Correctional Officers Assn.

They are classified as sheriff’s service technicians, but their job title would change to correctional officers with the change, Preiczer said.

Many of the state’s 58 counties have jails run by civilians or a combined staff of deputies and correctional officers, he told supervisors.

Though corrections staff members are not sworn peace officers and do not carry firearms, that has not been a problem in other counties, Preiczer said.

The county would save money because corrections officers earn significantly less than sheriff’s deputies, said Stuart Adams, an attorney for the corrections union.

He presented figures showing that replacing one entry-level deputy with a service technician saves $20,232 annually.

The changeover would be done gradually as sheriff’s deputies retired or were transferred to patrol assignments, Adams said.

That way, no one would be laid off, he said.

Supervisor Kathy Long, who brought the item to the board, said the study should review how well civilians have performed in other counties.

“It warrants at least taking a look,” she said.

Facing an $11.5-million shortfall in his department, Brooks is expected to send layoff notices today to at least 40 sheriff’s service technicians, Husband said.

No notices will be sent to sheriff’s deputies, prompting Preiczer to accuse the sheriff of taking retaliatory measures against his union for bringing to supervisors a proposal Brooks does not support.

But sheriff’s officials said politics was not in play in deciding who would be laid off.

In the last three years, 114 deputy positions have been eliminated, compared with 57 sheriff’s service technicians, Husband said.

“For every SST we lose, we’ve lost two deputies. It would be irresponsible to sustain one classification at the expense of another,” he said.