Sheriff’s Department: 200 Jobs Frozen

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department has been hit by the financial crisis. They plan to freeze approximately 200 mainly behind-the-scenes positions during the next fiscal year, according to our media partner, The North County Times. They will, however, keep the same number of deputies on patrol.

The staffing freezes should help the department avoid making any layoffs, said undersheriff Bill Gore, who oversees the everyday operations of the department. While this may save jobs in the long run, it will slow some of the department's work (i.e. investigations into crimes like car thefts or drug dealing may take longer).

"We're working very hard not to lay off anybody," said Gore. "We're going to be downsizing. We're going to have vacancies and we're not going to be filling some of those vacancies. But hopefully we can accomplish this by attrition."

The proposed freezes and other budget measures must be approved by the Board of Supervisors. The new fiscal year starts July 1.

The Sheriff's Department provides law enforcement to the county's unincorporated areas like Fallbrook, Ramona, Vista, Del Mar and Poway.

The frozen positions will come from behind-the-scenes jobs such as detectives or community service officers, those employees retire or move on to another line of work, said Gore.

Sheriff's officials are expecting their next year's budget to be cut by $20 million or more, compared to this year.