ALEXANDRIA, S.D. (AP) - There are more full-time law enforcement officers today in Hanson County than ever before, but the sheriff’s office is still understaffed.
Deputy Brandon Wingert began working full-time in Alexandria on Sept. 12, marking the first time the Hanson County Sheriff’s Office has employed two deputies at the same time. He’s been employed part-time at the office since May, and he also worked as a full-time deputy in Douglas County for three years, The Daily Republic reported (https://bit.ly/2d8h5Ya ).
Wingert said he swapped counties to get a new experience and because his new schedule gives him more time off to be with his family, but when he was looking for employment, he knew he wanted to stick with county law enforcement.
“I knew I wanted to stay with a sheriff’s office,” Wingert said. “You’re able to get out there more and meet more people, meet the locals and get to know people a little better because you’re around so much.”
But even with another deputy, Sheriff Randy Bartlett said the office is still understaffed. Bartlett said he has been fighting for years to get two full-time deputies in the department, but ultimately, he’d like one more.
The Hanson County Sheriff’s Office works on eight-hour shifts, but the officers often work for longer hours each day and must be ready to respond to calls for service 24 hours per day.
“We don’t get nights off. We don’t get holidays off,” Bartlett said. “We had two people up until now to cover 432 square miles, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. That’s an awful lot for two people.”
With eight-hour shifts, each seven-day work week contains 21 shifts. Even with a sheriff and two deputies, the office can only cover 15 of those shifts if only one officer worked at a time and everyone worked only 40 hours a week. Plus, multiple officers may be needed for an investigation or to respond to an incident, so the department is still understaffed.
But Hanson County is not alone. Bartlett said more than 80 percent of sheriff’s departments in South Dakota had fewer than five officers.
“People don’t realize how short their law enforcement departments actually are,” Bartlett said.
Getting another deputy was so important to Bartlett, he and his other full-time deputy, his son Michael Bartlett, worked extra shifts that are normally covered by part-time help to save enough money to pay Wingert a full-time wage.
The county commission approved a request to hire a second deputy in the spring, but it did not increase the sheriff’s office budget to do so, Bartlett said. Because the sheriff’s office employees are paid a set salary, they do not receive compensation for overtime work, so working extra hours allowed Bartlett to save money set aside for part-time employees so he could pay Wingert until the commission increases the department’s budget next year.
But Bartlett wanted another deputy for more than just lightening his load. With a rise in methamphetamine use across the region and with Interstate 90 passing directly through the county, Bartlett said crime has been on the rise.
“Anything that’s on the interstate going from Sioux Falls to Rapid to points west, Washington, Oregon, and points east all the way to New York and Chicago … Any traffic can get off in our county and create issues,” Bartlett said.
Bartlett mentioned two Minnesota women who entered Alexandria last year and attempted to rob the gas station just off the interstate. He remembered another man who was high on meth who entered the same gas station frantically screaming that someone was going to kill him. Officers later located him near Emery, where he crashed his vehicle.
“It can be a big city problem, and it can be a cow’s out. There are no boundaries, and our department will have to handle what it is that happens in our county,” Bartlett said.
Before starting in Hanson County, Wingert said he did some research about the interstate and spoke with the Bartletts to learn what to expect. While Highways 281 and 44 bring significant traffic through Douglas County, Wingert said it’s not the same.
“The traffic was busy, but it wasn’t I-90,” Wingert said. “It takes it to a different level because you have so much more traffic moving through the county, so many more people.”
While the interstate can bring trouble, Wingert wanted to stay in a county with a smaller population. As of 2010, Douglas County’s population was 3,002. Hanson County is only slightly larger at 3,331, and with no police departments in the county, sheriff’s office officials are able to cover a lot of ground and meet people in multiple towns.
But smaller communities often struggle with officer turnover, because the county isn’t able to pay deputies as much as those with more taxpayers.
According to Moody County Sheriff Troy Wellman, vice president and future president of the South Dakota Sheriff’s Association, Moody County has experienced high turnover over the years, with deputies frequently leaving Flandreau for offices with lower workloads and higher pay.
“There’s been numerous deputies, either when I was still a deputy or now as a sheriff, who have moved on in their law enforcement career to places where they’re not as busy as they were in Moody County, but they get paid better,” Wellman said.
Wellman said he believes the starting wage for officers in Sioux Falls is almost $20 an hour, while a 39-year dispatcher in Flandreau is making about $15 an hour.
Around the nation, Wellman believes city law enforcement officers are paid better than county officials, although that may not be true for small city departments with only one or two employees. The discrepancy has led a 1 1/2-year deputy to be Moody County’s longest tenured law enforcement official, other than Wellman.
To fight the wage gap, Moody County has raised wages thanks to about $36,000 in new funds from a recently approved bill to provide some money collected from the state alcohol tax to counties.
“I know somebody’s not going to stay in Flandreau forever unless there’s something there to keep them there, but I hope truly it will slow down that revolving door,” Wellman said.
Larger counties struggle, too, Wellman said, even offices as big as Minnehaha. But a law enforcement office must do what it can to continue providing a quality service to its citizens to ensure they feel safe.
“It’s a struggle to keep manpower on the road, providing adequate services, and when we can’t, those of us that are left pick up where we can to make citizens feel they’re getting the coverage they want so we can hopefully not let them notice we’re short-handed,” Wellman said.
Bartlett said Hanson County has seen turnover in its part-time staff, but after getting approval for a new deputy, the office won’t be using part-time officers anymore.
Still, having three full-time officers on staff will increase the odds that backup will be nearby if necessary, Bartlett said.
And as for the wage difference between departments, Bartlett said there is no animosity between law enforcement officers. Whenever one agency needs help, someone nearby is always willing to answer the call. But it also takes more than a desire for wealth or advancement to enjoy a career in small-county law enforcement.
“There’s a lot of jobs out there that offer more money, and unless someone is really dedicated to making a difference, it’s really tough to get good, qualified people to work for the wages they’re offering,” Bartlett said. “You have to really want to do what you’re doing to get any gratification out of this job.”
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Information from: The Daily Republic, https://www.mitchellrepublic.com
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