Nevada County Grand Jury
• 2000-2001
Nevada County Sheriff's Department Reason for Investigation The Nevada County Civil Grand Jury is responsible for*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 8 findings
F1
The Nevada County Sheriff's Department is seriously understaffed. Witnesses testified that during certain hours, patrol is "skeletal," resulting in longer response times for residents to receive aid.
No recommendations for this finding
F2
Deputy sheriffs respond to an average of five domestic disputes nightly, in addition to all other calls for help. Domestic disputes are considered the most volatile of situations, frequently resulting in violence. It is critical that at least two officers respond to such calls, which often take them off patrol for several hours.
No recommendations for this finding
F3
The Wayne Brown Correctional Facility is experiencing a staffing shortage as well. Additionally, positions are frequently vacant due to injuries common to such a facility. Officers of all rank testified they are experiencing peak levels of stress and fatigue, the highest in years.
No recommendations for this finding
F4
The Sheriff's sole mandate by law is to maintain a detention facility. The shortage of correctional officers to guard prisoners forces the sheriff to transfer patrol deputies to the jail, leaving the Sheriff's Department with even fewer officers to respond to emergency calls.
No recommendations for this finding
F5
Every year Nevada County loses trained and experienced deputies and correctional officers to neighboring counties. Those interviewed testified that higher wages and enhanced retirement benefits were their reasons for leaving.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
correctional officers' wages and benefits in order to recruit and retain qualified law enforcement officers. The recommendation has been implemented. The County and the Deputy Sheriffs' Association agreed upon a new four-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on April 5, 2001. The Board of Supervisors ratified the MOU on May 8, 2001. Details of the agreement are as specified in Board Resolution 01-183 (attached). OTHER RESPONSES REQUIRED: В. Keith Royal, Sheriff-Coroner – June 4, 2001 Ward/other/gj0001-IR7-Sheriff
F6
The cost of training a full time deputy sheriff amounts to $43,000. Nevada County has refused to give officers an equivalent upgrade in retirement benefits which are being offered by many California cities and counties, including the Grass Valley Police Department. The Public Employees Retirement System benefits would be available at no direct cost to the county.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
correctional officers' wages and benefits in order to recruit and retain qualified law enforcement officers. The recommendation has been implemented. The County and the Deputy Sheriffs' Association agreed upon a new four-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on April 5, 2001. The Board of Supervisors ratified the MOU on May 8, 2001. Details of the agreement are as specified in Board Resolution 01-183 (attached). OTHER RESPONSES REQUIRED: В. Keith Royal, Sheriff-Coroner – June 4, 2001 Ward/other/gj0001-IR7-Sheriff
F7
which are being offered by many California cities and counties, including Grass Valley Police Department. The Public Employees Retirement System benefits would be available at no direct cost to the county. Disagree. The County and the Deputy Sheriffs Association approved a new labor agreement in April that provided more than 27 percent in salary increases over four years and increased their retirement benefit to "3% percent at 50". This new retirement benefit will allow long-term deputies to retire at age 50 with up to 85 percent of base salary. Although this new retirement benefit will initially not result in additional cost to the county, it has the potential to increase county funding liability in future years. This benefit is the top-end retirement benefit available to Safety employees. At the time of this report, the deputy sheriffs are working without a contract and
No recommendations for this finding
F8
At the time of this report, the deputy sheriffs are working without a contract and negotiations are still underway, according to the Personnel Department. CONCLUSIONS
No recommendations for this finding
Conclusions 3
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CL1There are not enough sheriff's deputies to respond immediately to all emergency calls throughout western Nevada County. Likewise, unfilled positions at the jail result in serious safety risks to correctional officers and inmates and increase financial liability for taxpayers. This puts citizens and deputies alike in real peril because they lack the protection they have the right to expect.
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CL2Nevada County deputies' wages and retirement benefits are significantly lower than comparable counties. This has effectively stymied Nevada County's attempts to recruit and retain deputy sheriffs and correctional officers. Without wage hikes and upgrades to the retirement package, the situation will worsen.
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CL3The loss of experienced deputies and correctional officers to other counties is extremely costly and a waste of taxpayers' money. Nevada county residents pay for and deserve better police protection and adequate jail security.
No Responses Found 1
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
Nevada County
County
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.