Bid advances for 2 more Garland County deputies

HOT SPRINGS — The addition of two patrol deputies to the Garland County sheriff office’s 2019 budget received preliminary approval last week, personnel the sheriff’s said is needed to meet an increase in calls for service.

Salary and benefits for the two positions will add $104,770 to the sheriff’s office’s general fund-supported budget, according to the county finance department. The $5,395,155 budget does not include patrol vehicles for the new positions or the 2- or 3-percent cost-of-living adjustment the Garland County Quorum Court finance committee will consider tonight when it makes its final budget recommendation to the full Quorum Court.

The sheriff’s office said two outfitted patrol vehicles would increase its capital outlay by about $71,000.

Sheriff Mike McCormick told the county’s human-resources committee that the minimum of four deputies patrolling a more than 700-square-mile service area during a 12-hour shift needs to be augmented. Two additional deputies would give the patrol division more than 30 uniformed positions.

“Our calls for service have increased dramatically to the point our deputies are running from call to call,” he wrote in a letter to the committee. “Little time is left for general patrolling/crime prevention.

“The patrol division does a remarkable job with the allotted resources. However, I believe it would be a very prudent decision to create two additional positions.”

The sheriff’s office said the fleet management plan it began in 2016 will yield its biggest dividend yet in 2019, reducing the parts and auto repairs line item by more than $20,000 compared with the $72,524 budgeted for the current year. The plan removes vehicles from service with more than 150,000 miles.

Deputies are limited to 30,000 miles annually, a cap the sheriff’s office said its fuel-card system monitors.

“If we see a spike in miles, we pull data to see what the officer is doing,” Undersheriff Jason Lawrence told the finance committee. “Are they using it for patrol purposes and taking a lot of calls and being a very productive officer? Are they working a lot off duty? Are they using it for personal use?

“What we’ve found is a lot of our deputies are bouncing call to call, and it’s adding up very quickly.”

Six Ford sport utility vehicle police interceptors, a four-wheel drive Ford pickup, a four-wheel drive Chevrolet Tahoe and a Dodge Durango budgeted for the current year replaced vehicles in the 165,000- to 200,000-mile range, the sheriff’s office said last year.

Those nine vehicles, which cost about $260,000 when fully outfitted, represented the biggest outlay under the fleet plan, the sheriff’s office said, noting that fewer vehicles will be needed in subsequent years.

The 2019 budget includes six vehicles — two all-wheeldrive Chevy Traverses, two Ford Explorers and two Chevrolet Silverado 1500s — for a cost of $204,058. The total includes outfitting expenses.

“The Fords have been performing well,” Lawrence told the finance committee. “We have an issue we reported to Ford. If you drive off-road, the exhaust system hangs low. We’ve been purchasing metal covers. We started with three or four and hope to have three or four more by the end of the year.”

Dodge Rams are no longer part of the fleet plan after the sheriff’s office purchased three in 2016. It told the Finance Committee last year the trucks were the cheapest law enforcement vehicles under state-contract pricing when they were purchased, but they have been plagued by engine problems.

Lawrence told the committee the difficulties have continued into the current year.

“We’re still having some issues with Dodge trucks,” he said. “We’ve had to replace the lifters as they’re hitting the 100,000-mile mark. We had another vehicle go down with a fuel pump.”

The department began phasing out its Dodge Chargers in 2016.

McCormick said providing the two new patrol positions with vehicles will help keep the parts and repairs line item in check.

“I’m not saying we can’t make do, but it’s not going to be an optimal situation,” he told the finance committee. “We’re going to have cars that are going to be in that 150,000-mile range that we’re going to be driving. We can nurse these cars, but you’re looking at an increase in maintenance and cost.”

“Our calls for service have increased dramatically to the point our deputies are running from call to call. Little time is left for general patrolling/crime prevention.” — Sheriff Mike McCormick