# Deputies Vying to Wear Houston Uniform



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Houston Chronicle (KRT)*
_via NewsEdge Corporation_

Feb. 2--Houston police have searched nationally to fill their thinning ranks, traveling as far as Detroit and Pittsburgh in hope of luring experienced officers to the Bayou City.

But it turns out the most eager applicants are right next door.

Fifty-three Harris County sheriff's deputies have applied to join the Houston Police Department through an abridged academy set to begin in March -- making up nearly a third of all applicants. Dozens more have asked about the job, HPD officials said.

The deputies have come for the higher pay, better benefits and career opportunities their department may not be able to match.

"A lot of guys are going to wait and see how this first group goes through," said Deputy Robert Goerlitz, a board member with the Harris County Deputies Organization, a union that represents deputies, jailers and other county law enforcement personnel. "If it turns out to be positive ... there's going to be a flood."

County Judge Robert Eckels said that, despite the draw, there were no plans for big changes in the county's pay structure.

"We think our pay is competitive," Eckels said. "We will watch the situation. But at this time, I'm not alarmed."

Many deputies disagree and say they plan to picket an upcoming Harris County Commissioners Court meeting.

"Right now we're in a precarious imbalance," said Richard Newby, president of the Deputies Organization. "Everybody's hurting, nobody's well, and everybody wants a fix. Everybody wants a fix right now."

Staffing issues

Indeed, the sheriff's department has manpower problems. Meeting the law enforcement demands of a growing population while staffing the state's busiest jails is challenge enough, with about 100 vacant positions. To keep up, officials have had to disband "hot spot" response teams and postpone an academy class originally scheduled for March.

HPD's tempting offer is not helping.

Newby said Harris County deputies make about $3,600 less per year than they made three years ago, but they could add an average of $12,000 to their annual salaries if they move to HPD.

"The city has a deeper tax base, they have deeper pockets, they can afford to pay that," said sheriff's Lt. David Guarino, who oversees recruiting for the department.

With 2,544 certified personnel, including 800 patrol deputies and 490 detention officers, Harris County has the third-largest sheriff's department in the country and the largest in the state.

Still, Guarino acknowledged, "Maybe it's time for a raise."

Both agencies have relatively comparable base salaries, particularly for starters; a first-year HPD officer makes a minimum of $36,022, only about $300 more per year than a starting deputy.

The real perk is in the extras.

"The benefits package there makes it much more lucrative," Newby said. "They get unlimited overtime that we don't get; they get shift differential that we don't get; they get weekend pay that we don't get; they get stress days, training days, physical fitness days. These are things that we don't get."

Lost investment

Along with the deputies' experience, the department stands to lose an investment of $45,000 per deputy. Thus, 53 departing officers could walk away with nearly $2.4 million worth of department-funded training.

The last time HPD offered a modified-entry class, in 2002, only two of the 29 cadets who enrolled came from the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

Union officials say the situation this year is a much-needed wakeup call.

"Here we are, we've invested thousands of dollars in people's training, and we're basically giving it away," Goerlitz said. "We're wasting taxpayer's money by not offering enough to them to keep them here. It's like throwing money down a well."

The Commissioners Court could consider a salary hike at its budget session in February, but union officials said they aren't holding out much hope.

"We have to do what we can afford, and we can't do any more than we can afford," said county budget officer Dick Raycraft. "There's a lot of competition for dollars (in the county). Sometimes the county's ahead, and sometimes they're behind."

Recruitment officials said the staffing problem could be overrated, pointing to the thousands of resumes they receive every year from people interested in joining the department as detention officers.

"We are not seeing this mass exodus that everybody's trying to project," said Capt. Mark Wrobleski. He called the loss to other departments "acceptable and gradual" -- at least for now.

But Goerlitz, at a recent job fair, came face to face with a younger, more ambitious generation.

"We were getting left in the dust," he said. "Once they found out the benefits we had compared to everyone else, they basically walked away.

"Our pay and benefits have gotten to the point where we're the last on the totem pole for anyone wanting to come to us."

Cut in block grants

Good retention goes hand in hand with good recruiting, but managing both can be a lot to ask of agencies outside big cities, said Elaine Deck, who tracks recruiting for the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Since 2001, the federal government has cut law enforcement block grants that helped communities with police funding, she said.

Now, Deck said, "communities that don't have a strong tax base are not going to be as competitive as communities that do."

One of the 53 deputies applying to HPD, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution at work, thinks the county could do more.

"It doesn't really seem like they care about keeping them," said the deputy, a seven-year veteran who has been accepted for the modified academy.

"If they paid their people right and treated us right, it wouldn't be an issue. If they gave us a nice raise, I'd stop on a dime and not go over there (to HPD). I'd probably reconsider."

The deputy said the move to HPD gets him an extra $11,000 per year and much better health insurance.

The pay increase and education incentives allow him to leave his three off-duty jobs, giving him up to 25 hours more a week to spend with his wife and two young sons and to work toward getting a college degree.

HPD's planned $7,000 signing bonus for in-state transfers will only be "icing on the cake," he said.

But the deputy regrets having to leave his buddies behind.

"If I made this decision with my heart, I'd stay with the county," he said. "But I have to look at this from a business standpoint. Where would I be better off in the next 10 years, here or there? Right now, the answer is there."

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