SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — Spokane County is desperate for more sheriff's deputies. In a move to make recruitment efforts more competitive, the sheriff's office increased its hiring bonus to $25,000.
At the end of 2021, the Spokane County Board of Commissioners approved funding for 27 new sheriff's deputies. This included a $15,000 hiring bonus. But now, it has 50 unfilled positions.
The county hopes a $25,000 bonus, approved last week, will draw in more potential hires.
Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich requested the bigger bonus to draw in more top of line recruits for an already understaffed sheriff's office.
"No one wants to do this job anymore because of the negativity that has been put out about it," Knezovich said.
According to the county's now amended sign-on bonus policy, the $25,000 bonus applies to laterals. These are experienced deputies who leave another agency. Entry level hires will get $10,000.
County Commissioner Mary Kuney said this is an important investment in the community.
"We were the first ones to put out a resolution saying that we believe in our law enforcement here in Spokane County and we are not going to defund you," Kuney said. "We want you to keep our community safe. And so we believe this is helping us help the sheriff's office keep our community safe so our citizens feel comfortable being here in Spokane."
She adds that increasing the bonus does not increase the sheriff's office budget.
Currently, the sheriff's office has 50 open deputy positions it needs to fill this year. But Sheriff Knezovich said recruitment efforts, including its billboard ads in multiple major cities, are working.
"We had 750 Plus applications and that is kind of a record for us," Knezovich said.
KREM 2's Amanda Roley asked if the recruitment efforts are working, then why are there still 50 unfilled positions. He said not enough applicants are proving to be qualified.
"We're trying to attract the cream of the crop," Knezovich said. "It may seem like it's pretty picky. But it's actually kind of an industry standard. Usually you only get about 10 viable candidates. When I say viable that's those who actually make it to the point where you're doing the Psych and everything else, the psychology review and the polygraphs."
Commissioner Kuney also pointed out the county is taking steps to not only recruit new hires, but also retain its current deputies. She said that's reflected in the new union agreement, which includes a salary increase for those deputies.