(The Center Square) – The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department Corrections Bureau is seeing a net loss in staffing as over 40% of deputies inch closer to retirement age.
According to a presentation to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, 43% of Pierce County Sheriff’s Department Corrections Bureau staff are over 50 years old. Pierce County Corrections Bureau Chief Kevin Roberts said deputies who are over 50 years old and are dealing with the people in corrections can hinder morale and harm officers’ mental health.
“Being in your late 50s and early 60s in that environment dealing with the type of individuals that we’re dealing with on a day-to-day basis can take a toll on the men and women of our organization,” Roberts told the Pierce County Public Safety Committee Monday. “When we lose people that have been with our organization for over [20-40 years] there is a lot of experience and knowledge that leaves with that that is incredibly difficult to replace.”
The Washington State Department of Retirement Systems’ Law Enforcement Officers’ and Firefighters’ Retirement System Plan requires five or more years of service to qualify for retirement. Through this plan, a patrol officer of the sheriff’s department is eligible to retire at age 53, assuming the five years of service credit.
However, for corrections officers, the age when they are eligible for retirement is 65 years old in most cases, according to Roberts.
Outside of 2023, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department Corrections Bureau has seen a net loss of staff since 2021. In 2022 alone, the county saw 42 separations in corrections while only hiring five deputies. So far this year, the department has seen a net loss of four deputies with 25 hires against 29 separations. As of Wednesday, there have been six conditional offers to individuals.
Roberts noted that the majority of those separations are due to retirement.
The department found some success in 2023 when it was able to hire 48 officers against 31 separations.
Due to the lack of deputies, the use of overtime in the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department’s Corrections Bureau has been high in the last two years, according to a presentation to the public safety committee.
Despite overtime rates being considerably down this year in comparison to 2023, Roberts noted overtime rates are still a challenge facing the corrections bureau.
One reason why overtime usage remains high is because of the new training time requirements enforced by the state for deputies to become certified. According to Roberts, that certification takes around 10 weeks. He added that there are currently 15 individuals now attending the academy.
In order to fill those vacant positions, the bureau has to have corrections deputies to work overtime.
