In The Midst of a Pandemic, Humboldt County Law Enforcement Navigates Staffing Shortages

Months before the pandemic swept across Humboldt County, law enforcement agencies described difficulty recruiting and retaining personnel. In January, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office published a press release characterizing their agency as “facing a critical staffing shortage of sheriff’s deputies” and saying they were working hard “bolstering efforts to recruit.” As the community navigates COVID-19, law enforcement agencies throughout the County are facing even more difficulties hiring new staff.

“We already were in a recruiting and retention crisis before COVID-19 landed like a nationwide Category 5 hurricane,” Eureka Police Chief Steve Watson said. Currently, he said, his agency’s staffing shortage include, “two police officer vacancies with a couple of retirements also anticipated during the next few months.” Watson described this shortage requiring that “existing staff (such as patrol officers) may just have to work harder for a time with fewer personnel to share the workload.”

The EPD is not the only law enforcement agency needing to work staff overtime. “Since we started the COVID response, all of our deputies went to emergency 12 hour shifts,” Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said. He explained that the agency is still working towards recruiting more deputies to fill the gaps and reduce the load on employees. As the staffing shortage and pandemic converged, Sheriff Honsal described deputies putting in long hours to “make sure there is 24/7 coverage throughout the county.” He noted that “there are deputies that are working much beyond their normal schedules.”

This is affecting outlying areas. He noted, “We have essentially two deputies assigned to each beat area.—Willow Creek, Hoopa, McKinleyville, main station and Southern Humboldt as well as supervision in both sides of the county. So far, we’re hanging in there. We are trying to allow for vacations, as we can do, for some time off – and nobody’s going anywhere–but at least having some time off.”

In the midst of the pandemic, Humboldt County’s law enforcement agencies have continued attempts to recruit. To practice social distancing, Sheriff Honsal said oral board reviews are facilitated via “conference call or a Zoom type meeting.” Essential steps such as background checks have “slowed down,” he said. Using social media as a recruitment mechanism, Honsal described “over 60 applicants” for the beginning deputy position that will enter the police academy later this year.

Chief Watson shared Sheriff Honsal’s characterization of recruitment’s difficulties in the time of COVID. He explained, “The shelter-in-place orders have made the recruiting and hiring processes (including extensive background checks and medical clearances) more challenging.”

In spite of staffing shortages elsewhere, Sheriff Honsal acknowledged the success HCSO has had in recruiting dispatch and correctional officers. With the number of applications for correctional deputy recruits, Honsal suggests the possibility that for the “first time in 23 years” the correctional facility could be fully staffed.

College of the Redwoods Law Enforcement Training Center Coordinator Sandi Peterson said the program is still currently training new officer candidates “with an expected graduation date in mid-June.” She added, “Our next Academy begins in July and we are currently testing for it.” Peterson said the Academy has a number of protocols in place to ensure student health in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. “We are prioritizing the safety and health of our staff and cadets by utilizing social distancing, regular disinfecting, sanitizing, etc,” she stated.

Peterson also spoke to the Policy Academy’s unique role in alleviating this staffing shortage: “Law enforcement is an essential service and we have a commitment to producing new officers ready to serve and assist in our communities,” she explained. “California, like many other states, currently suffers from an officer shortage and we are doing our best to remedy that during this challenging time.”

In addition to making recruitment difficult, the virus has forced local law enforcement agencies to take extra precautions to shield their staff from the disease. Chief Watson has implemented a number of protocols to protect his police officers from the virus. He noted, “We [handle] more non-emergency calls for service by phone when possible, ask citizens to step outside to speak with responding officers where feasible (versus entering a confined space like a home where risk is higher), [we have staff] wearing protective masks where social distancing isn’t possible or risk is elevated, and [we have closed] our business office lobby except by appointment only or [by] limiting the number of persons inside the lobby to maintain social distancing.”

Because fighting COVID-19 has cost the county both in money expended and in lost tax revenue, law enforcement knows that their financial resources will be tight in the near future. Both Sheriff Honsal and Chief Watson expressed how looming budget cuts would affect the recruitment and retainment of Humboldt County law enforcement.

Sheriff Honsal expects the cuts to have “a significant impact on the County and the city’s budgets.” He warned against cuts to public safety “because our job, risk, and the amount of work that we have to do usually goes up when there is a crisis or when there’s an economic downturn.”

Chief Watson suggested COVID-19 was less of a barrier to recruitment than the economic downturn. He stated, “The biggest impact on local and state governments and agencies, including EPD, is going to be the significant budget cuts that are likely to follow for the next fiscal year or two. Some vacant positions will be required [to] go unfilled and/or total allocated positions may be reduced in many departments’ budgets.”

Seeing a potential silver lining in the pandemic’s effects on police recruitment, Watson said: “I do wonder if the COVID emergency might also have a potential positive effect: with the many, many Americans who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic, perhaps some will look to the relative stability of the public sector for the steady paychecks and benefits offered—including careers such as policing and dispatching.”