LAKEPORT – Sheriff Rod Mitchell plans to ask the Board of Supervisors today to increase the number of correctional officer positions in his agency, but said he doesn't need more money to cover the additions.
Mitchell said Monday that his request is for eight new correctional officer positions. Currently, the Lake County Sheriff's Office has 50 such positions in its budget, he said.
Those officers oversee the Hill Road Jail's inmate population, which averages around 300 inmates daily, said Mitchell. The jail's official capacity is actually 262 inmates, he added.
“We're over capacity in the medium and high-security areas,” he said.
Mitchell continued, “The current allocation of correctional officers is only enough to operate the jail.”
He explained that it takes approximately 5.5 people to fill one position 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“We desire to have a full eight officers on each shift,” he said. Those officers, he explained, secure the jail, conduct inmate classifications and service programs, and transport inmates to locations such as Superior Court.
Mitchell's report to the board notes that he has managed to fill all of his current correctional officer positions, and that more qualified individuals continue to apply. Many of those current officers, he writes, would like to seek promotion to deputy sheriff.
“The increase would allow us to get people hired and trained and then send veteran officers who have an interest to the peace officer academy,” Mitchell said.
His report to the board notes that the state reimburses the county $2,519 – or 30 percent – of the total costs for each academy graduate, and that he's exploring other ways of reducing those costs.
The sheriff emphasized that he's not asking for money. Rather, he plans to cover the new correctional officer positions with funds already in his budget. Mitchell said he'll use money from vacant deputy sheriff's positions to cover the new officers.
“I'm hopeful that the board will approve this,” he said. “This is crucial.”
The board on Tuesday is expected to approve a grant Mitchell is applying for to fight methamphetamine in the county.
The $214,589 California Multi-Jurisdictional Methamphetamine Enforcement Team – also called Cal-MMET – grant will be included in the Mitchell's 2007-08 budget.
“It's intended to be a performance grant, so if we don't show results targeting methamphetamine we're not likely to be funded in the future,” Mitchell said.
As long as the money is used to combat meth, Mitchell said, how it's spent is left to his discretion.
The grant will cover purchase of a vehicle and other miscellaneous expenses; Mitchell said the money also can be used to increase staffing.
However, Mitchell said he doesn't want to use the funds for staff at this point.
The grant and staffing request are connected, Mitchell said. He said the grant was one of the reasons he wanted to get approval for more correctional staff.
The reason: Mitchell said he can't afford to dedicate more staff to special details like narcotics enforcement until he can increase his patrol staff. He believes he can increase his patrol deputy ranks by adding more officers for the jail and allowing current jailers to apply for deputy promotions.
Sheriff Mitchell's request for additional staff is scheduled for 10:35 a.m. on the board agenda. The grant application is a consent agenda item.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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