Sheriff seeks funds for recruitment, retention of deputies

Sheriff William Honsal on Thursday made a public plea for more law enforcement officers, citing a decline in staffing levels and advocating for public funds to buoy more competitive wages.

In a lengthy statement, Honsal said his office is currently understaffed by 17 full-time deputies, which he called a “critical staffing shortage.”

“Due to this shortage, sheriff’s deputies have entered into an emergency 12-hour shift schedule and many deputies have been required to work overtime in an effort to continue providing efficient and responsive services to the residents of Humboldt County,” Honsal wrote in the statement.

Honsal, who has served as chief since 2018, said Thursday his decision to make a public statement is part of a more deliberate approach to address the social perception of law enforcement — a reputation that he said has been “tarnished” by a recent history of incidents involving police.

“Over the course of the last 50 years, there have been several incidents that have really painted a bad picture on a lot of law enforcement,” Honsal told the Times- Standard. The sheriff said job hopefuls at career fairs often tell him they would never look to policing as a career path.

The recent history of scandals extends to Humboldt County.

An investigative report published late last month details former sheriff’s deputy Anthony Lagarda’s ouster from the department.

Records show Lagarda in 2015 drunkenly crashed his car into a tree, and later falsely reported the vehicle stolen when confronted by law enforcement.

Lagarda would plead guilty to “falsely reporting a crime and reckless driving while under the influence of alcohol,” according to the report.

Honsal acknowledged the incident, saying broadly that the sheriff’s office needs more flexibility to hold rogue officers accountable.

“There have been times we determined that someone lied and we tried to fire them, so we go through the state arbitrator… and they say it’s not a fireable offense,” Honsal said. He added that officers like Lagarda “stain our image.”

Honsal said increasing the office’s diversity would be one way to improve community trust, adding that the department already employs a “good cross-section” of the community, including Native American and Spanish-speaking officers. The sheriff’s office does not publish official diversity statistics.

More directly, Honsal said, his office has struggled with staffing as it competes with the neighboring Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office for largely the same prospective candidates.

Attractive wages and benefits, he said, are key to recruiting and retaining officers.

In his statement, Honsal praises the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors for increasing its sheriff’s office wages by around 30%, a move he says would be beneficial if similarly employed by Humboldt County.

On Thursday, Honsal told the Times- Standard he believes current revenues from Measure Z (the half-percent county-wide sales tax) have successfully kept more than 20 deputies employed.

As for his public plea, Honsal said his mission is already working.