Sheriff John Rutherford spoke publically today in a press conference about the recent layoffs, saying he commends his staff for their professionalism.
The reduction phase is complete, and Rutherford says reassignment of personnel began immediately following the layoffs.
In the reduction in force phase, JSO cut a total of 77 positions, totaling a savings of around $4.6 million dollars. Among those cut were the 48 officers, 14 community service officers, and 1 medical doctor at the jail, along with other positions. In order to fund those 48 officers, it costs JSO roughly $3.3 million a year. Those 23 vacant positions that were eliminated also ran around $1.5 million a year.
“I’m confident that emergency police services will not be impacted by these cuts,” says Rutherford when asked about the safety of our streets after the cuts. He did say however, that the city may see slower response times to non-emergency cuts, such as non-injury traffic accidents.
With the officer layoffs, Rutherford says it costs JSO around $60-70 thousand dollars to train an officer. But Rutherford says the officers that were released were put on a “re-hire” list, so JSO would not have to pay the training if officers were brought back. “I hope as soon as soon as this situation between the union and city is settled, that my revenues will meet my expenses on salary, and I’ll be able to hire all these folks back,” says Rutherford.
Rutherford says his intention is to privatize his fleet services to save money. But there’s an issue with that. The City Council has to approve that plan. “I’m going forward with the idea that I am going to realize that savings in my fleet. If I can do that, that’s 17 officers that did not laid off right now, but if I’m not allowed to do that, there’s an additional 34 officers that will be laid off in March,” says Rutherford if that money is not taken out of fleet services. “If I wanted to save all of that money right now, I would have to start today by laying 17 officers off, to cover that shortage in my salary account,” says Rutherford. He says he is currently in talks with City Council on the plan.
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