Font ResizeLAS CRUCES - Doña Ana County Sheriff Todd Garrison will boost the numbers of higher ranking officers as part of a department-wide restructuring plan launched earlier this month.
He also has designated seven divisions, distinctions that group together similar job functions, and rearranged duties associated with some rankings.
The moves are aimed at making the agency more efficient and filling in an administration gap created over the years because upper-level positions haven't kept pace with the department's growth, Garrison said.
It's not clear yet how the proposal will sit with a labor union within the department.
Bottom-heavy
Now, administration in the department consists of Garrison, the undersheriff, one captain and seven lieutenants. Also, there are 21 sergeants - who supervise deputies in the field and handle certain administrative work such as scheduling - and eight corporals, officers who aren't supervisors but have more seniority than deputies, according to the sheriff's department.
Under the proposal, the lieutenant positions would be converted to captain positions - who'd each oversee one of the new divisions. Meanwhile, another 10 or 11 sergeant positions would become lieutenant posts, Garrison said. The remaining 10 or 11 sergeant positions would stay unchanged, and the eight corporal jobs would be phased out and converted into sergeant slots, as the current corporals quit or retired from the department, he said.
The 14 investigator
Though the department has experienced growth, Garrison said, "the top hasn't really changed."
"If we don't have enough supervisors watching the day-to-day operations of things, we're letting things fall through the cracks and we're wasting taxpayer money and we're wasting time," he said. "So this is a reorganization of our structure, trying to redefine and lay that process out so that we hold officers accountable and supervisors accountable and make sure that things are getting done."
In addition, Garrison said the restructuring is an "effort to standardize business, so people know what to expect."
Patrol changes
The largest and most-visible unit in the sheriff's department is that of patrol - the uniformed deputies, corporals and sergeants who respond to calls for help and reports about crime.
Prior to the reorganization, four lieutenants were responsible for overseeing the sheriff's substations in Hatch, Anthony, Las Cruces and Chaparral, said Lt. Michael Kinney, who heads a new division that includes the public information office.
"After re-evaluating, we find that there's a gap in the supervision because we find that one lieutenant can't keep a direct eye on every single shift on every single day," he said.
But now, two people - they're called division commanders now, but will eventually hold two of the proposed captain posts - are responsible, Kinney said. One will oversee about 70 civilian and uniformed personnel in the northern half of the county, while the other will do the same in the south.
Meanwhile, eight of the proposed new lieutenant posts - now sergeant and corporal positions that have yet to be reclassified - will be assigned as shift commanders. They'll oversee the day-, swing- or graveyard shifts at either the two northern substations or the two southern ones. They'll report to the division commanders.
In addition, Garrison said sergeants are currently tied up handling paperwork and other administrative duties in the office. But that work would be taken over by the new lieutenants, leaving sergeants free to be out on patrol, he said.
However, Kinney said the department isn't closing any substations or "pulling resources from any of the communities."
Sgt. Sam Ramos, president of the Communication Workers of America Local 7911, said the union has asked for a meeting with Garrison to get specifics about the proposal, but it has yet to happen. The bargaining unit's attorney will review the plan, when details are known, he said.
"Once that's done, our union will take a look so we can see if we need to bargain over the proposal itself, or the impact this proposal will have on our union members," he said. "Obviously, we'd like for the bargaining process to happen before the sheriff implements it."
The union includes deputies, corporals investigators and sergeants.
Staffing study?
Garrison and Kinney said the department surveyed other law enforcement agencies of various sizes across the Southwest in developing the new ranking structure and other proposed changes. But Kinney said a formal study wasn't commissioned.
There's no simple way to calculate the number of officers needed in a given police or sheriff's department, according to the International City/County Management Association, a not-for-profit professional association based in Washington, D.C.
Basing staffing upon a benchmark number of officers per thousand residents or comparisons to other departments aren't sound methods, said Leonard Matarese, director of research for ICMA Center for Public Safety Management. Problems with departmental comparisons are that there's no way to tell whether those agencies have the proper staffing levels and that each jurisdiction is unique. That applies, too, in determining the ranking structure, he said.
Rather, Matarese said, an in-depth review of a number of factors - including the call volume within a department, the types of calls responded to and the size of the geographical coverage area - is the way to achieve the greatest efficiency, something needed in these days of declining revenue.
"It takes some thoughtful analysis," he said. "It's not just a matter of guessing."
Matarese said his association carries out those kind of analyses, and the cost is "typically is significantly less than the cost of one police officer's salary and benefits for a year."
Not final
Kinney and Garrison said some changes took effect Jan. 16. The divisions were created, and responsibilities have been assigned to the division commanders, they said.
For instance, Kinney is now overseeing a division that includes internal affairs, the public information office, research and development and the training of new and existing officers, he said.
However, Kinney and the other division commanders still only hold the rank of lieutenant. The jobs have yet to be reclassified as captains.
That's apparently because County Manager Brian Haines must sign off on two aspects of the restructuring: the budget and the revised job descriptions.
Haines said he's met with Garrison, who presented a general overview of his restructuring plan. But Haines said he asked for further analysis about the financial impact. Haines said he doesn't want spending to increase because of the changes.
"As long as he's not asking for new (full-time equivalents) or new money into his fund, then with my authorization, he can make the restructuring," he said. "But that's contingent upon my review of the financial analysis and the approval of the new job descriptions that are going to be involved."
Garrison said he believes the financial impact will be "a wash" because the overtime budget will be reduced, as the number of hourly employees decreases. But the spending on exempt salaries will increase as the new ranks are created.
Kinney said it's likely the job reclassifications will take place in June or July.
Kinney said this is the third restructuring the department has undergone. The first took place soon after Garrison took office in 2005, and the second took place in January 2010.
Diana M. Alba can be reached at (575) 541-5443.
Do-a Ana County Sheriff's Office
sworn personnel
Now Proposed
•1 sheriff 1 sheriff
•1 undersheriff 1 undersheriff
•0 unspecified rank* 1 unspecified rank*
•1 captain 7 captains
•7 lieutenants 10 or 11 lieutenants
•21 sergeants 18 or 19 sergeants
•8 corporals 0 corporals
•14 investigators 14 investigators
•130 deputies 130 deputies
*Sheriff Todd Garrison declined to talk about the proposed rank.
Source: Do-a Ana County Sheriff Todd
Garrison and county personnel records.
New departmental divisions
1. Patrol North
2. Patrol South
3. Special Operations (SWAT, bomb squad, crisis response)
4. Criminal investigations
5. Professional Standards/ Development (training academies, advanced training, public affairs)
6. Special Services (animal control, codes, court services)
7. Support Services (civilian personnel)
Source: Lt. Michael Kinney, sheriff's department spokesman
On the Web
•Do-a Ana County: www.donaanacounty.org
