Well it looks like staffing has gone from bad to worse. Very short sighted decision by the department and board of supervisors.

gtspencer:

In case you were unaware, every police agency in the bay area is having trouble attracting and retaining officers. It has to do with the fact that police are under fire from all sides. The risk reward ratio for doing the job has become heavily skewed to the risk side and not just from criminals. I spent 10 years doing the job in the 80's and early 90's and there isn't a chance I would recommend the job to someone now. It has always been a tough job but it's only been made worse by the public's current attitude toward the police.

Of course, SMCSD has the added problem of having a reform Sheriff, so those that have been hiding out getting away with a lot of shady crap under the Munk and Bollanos administrations are bailing while they can.

Menlo.....I hate to tell you it's all the young people who supported the new Sheriff who are leaving.

gtspencer:

And why is that?

Who in their right mind would even want to be deputy today?

Far too many in our community look at those in blue as the enemy... that is, until they need a cop to help them. And deputies rarely have the backing of politicians, especially those in Sacramento and Washington, DC who continue to pass laws and regulations that make their jobs difficult if not impossible. They often spew the most hateful rhetoric about our police ("they are hunting down unarmed Black men...") which further poisons the public against them.

The new regulations - like not being able to pursue suspects for mere "property" crimes - and a lack of prosecutions has led to a laissez faire attitude of "why should I even bother?" The bad guy will be back on the street before the deputy even completes his paperwork. And should a deputy ever do something wrong - as we all do in our jobs - they will be mercilessly crucified.

Is it any wonder that deputies are leaving the force, retiring early and that recruitment is so difficult?

Pogo, and combine that with the lowest moral there has ever been at the sheriffs department and it all bad. Melo Voter keeps blaming Munks but Corpus and her "chief of staff" have been in charge for a year now and its only gotten worse.

pogo:

I'm right there with you. As you know, I spent 10 years in law enforcement in the 80's and early 90's. Given the current climate I would never recommend anyone go into law enforcement, Sheriff's department or otherwise. I wanted Deputy Spencer's take. I maintained many of my law enforcement friends after I left and all they did is confirm and reinforce my decision. I could see the handwriting on the wall. It took longer to get to this point than I expected, but it is still what I expected and why I left.

All bay area departments are having trouble recruiting and virtually all are offering signing bonuses, so I don't know why the county offering them is "very shortsighted".

Very short sighted because it's just throwing money at the problem and not fixing anything.

Actually "fixing" this problem would require an admission from elected officials that their policies have failed.

That's unlikely... at least until residents tire of the crime, customers and tourists stop frequenting downtown areas, businesses close, there's a net outflow of residents, vacancy rates increase and tax revenues suffer.

Less tax revenues for cities and counties seem to be the only thing that gets their attention. In the meantime, they'll keep applying band-aids to the hemorrhaging.

A shot in the arm for the morale of the Sherrifs Office might be a new headquarters.

Spending working hours in the current one, with its narrow passages through a warren of offices -- this is a first impression by someone unfamiliar with law enforcement and based on one visit years ago -- walloped me as we wove our way to an interview room. My inner voice reacted with urgency, as in, "Am I glad not to be working in this maze every day! Am I ever going to out of here?"

A welcoming purpose-built modern office seems a natural step for a reform-minded administration and a way to usefully spend money that benefits everyone.

If California or San Mateo County sheriffs/police officers are feeling down because of stupid laws and restrictions on their ability to do their jobs, the solution isn't paying them more money. Then taxpayers lose twice.

Let's change the ridiculous policies California has adopted on no cash bail, no arrests for under $1,000 of property theft, etc. The way to do this is to take action that changes California from a one-party state (i.e., voters stop voting the same way all the time).

Let's also recognize that these folks are compensated very well, particularly in retirement. The problem here isn't a money issue.

For me, I want police to be able to fight crime without hands being tied behind their backs. Note, this is different than turning a blind eye to obvious misdeeds such as killing citizens such as Chinedu Okobi. Police officers shouldn't be doing this. England is able to hire police officers that don't kill its citizens, yet are effective at preventing and fighting crime, for less money than California pays our officers.

This is a solvable problem, and the solution doesn't lie at either extreme of the pendulum.