PARK COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — The Park County sheriff said there will be no law enforcement on duty overnight in the county due to a lack of staff.
Sheriff Tom McGraw said his limited number of deputies will work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and he’ll have two deputies on call during the remaining 12 hours. He said the response time will be between an hour to two hours for absolute emergency calls only.
Fairplay and Alma police departments shut down at 10 p.m. and Colorado State Patrol is done by 11 p.m., the sheriff said. Leaving only the Park County Sheriff’s Office deputies to patrol the county.
A study conducted two years ago by the county showed the starting salary for a deputy should be $59,500 but it is currently $48,000 per year, McGraw said.
The study also showed that the county should have seven deputies per shift – 28 deputies total – per the volume of calls received within the population of 17,390. However, there are currently only eight road deputies available and they will be working the daytime shifts.
McGraw pointed out to the county commissioners that he cannot get applicants in due to the low starting salary and the difference from the surrounding counties.
“I cannot survive on $48,000 a year,” McGraw said at a meeting on Tuesday. “I cannot hire anybody with the surrounding counties that are beating me by $10,000 to $15,000. I can’t do it.”
McGraw cited, along with the low base salary, the department lacks health coverage for deputies and a competitive retirement plan.
The sheriff said he had two patrol deputies resign last week and a detective as well, bringing the total of patrol deputies to eight for the county. He said the jail has lost deputies so that is short-staffed, as well.
He stressed the point that the county is investing $25,000-$30,000 on training rookies that leave after eight months to make $10,000 more in another county with better living conditions and benefits.
His fear is that the two on-call deputies will get burned out from answering so many calls during overnight shift and doesn’t see a change in the near future since he is having a difficult time recruiting anyone without better working conditions. Not only is he asking the council for more money in order to hire more people, but to also take care of those currently employed to keep them in Park County.