Lenawee County Sheriff's Office continues to be short staffed, similarly to national issue

ADRIAN — Finding qualified applicants to fill 911-dispatch, corrections and deputy positions at the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office is a problem. It is not only a problem in Lenawee County. It’s happening across the country.

The Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office is currently down five corrections officers (with two conditional offers given), three road deputies (with the plan to send four to the police academy) and six in dispatch (with two conditional offers). A conditional offer means an offer has been extended, but the candidate may be in the process of background checks or psychological exam, among other things.

“That’s probably one of the parts of the process that’s most challenging for us because it’s not a quick process," said Lenawee County sheriff Troy Bevier. "We obviously have to make sure that we do an extensive background check on everyone that applies and that takes some time to do. Then there’s a psychological exam that’s part of the process. So when they’re in a conditional offer, they could be in different phases of the hiring process and waiting on one thing or another.”

The office is actively recruiting, attending job fairs and advertising at the local movie theatre. Anyone interested in taking on a role with the Sheriff’s Office can go to the county’s website at www.lenawee.mi.us to apply.

The problem is nationwide. Whereas five years ago the Sheriff’s Office may have gotten 50 applicants for a position with 20 well qualified prospects, it is getting a little more than a handful each month and four to five of those applicants are nowhere near being qualified.

“It’s across the country," Bevier said. "It certainly is a problem here in Michigan and just finding qualified applicants is a problem. So we’re competing with a lot of other agencies that are having the same exact issue we are."

While it is part of a larger labor shortage, finding employees for policing roles was a problem even before the shortage.

“I think it’s a perfect storm," Bevier said. "I think that there was a shortage of people who wanted to be police officers in the past and 911 operators and corrections officers. It started before the real labor shortage started but it just exacerbated it. It’s become even more of an issue. So those who were having trouble finding people before in our field are having even more problems finding them. I think it just took a problem that was out there and just multiplied it.”

This all translates into a lot of overtime for those who are on staff.

“That’s the unfortunate part," Bevier said. "We’re 24/7, so we don’t have the luxury of being able to say we’ll shut down. We have to have people and we have to have them working. So it does increase overtime. It just depends on the need. It’s anywhere from we need someone to fill a four-hour shift to we need someone to fill an eight-hour shift or a 12-hour shift. If somebody’s on a 12 and they need to be held over for a four and work a 16 that’s pretty much our life.”

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Lenawee County Sheriff's Office continues to be short staffed