Grant Will Help Get Deputies From Behind Desks Additional Manpower Will Help With Policing In Spokane Valley

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office has received a federal grant that will likely move nine deputies from desk jobs to patrol work.

Sheriff Mark Sterk said Wednesday the additional manpower will help mostly with policing the Spokane Valley, which sometimes operates with a short staff.

“There are nights we only have four people in the Valley,” said Sterk, who rode along with deputies on the graveyard shift last Friday.

Staffing levels - coupled with more citizen calls for assistance - have been a longstanding concern among many deputies.

According to Sheriff’s Office numbers, total calls for assistance went from 58,664 in 1994 to 79,364 last year - a 35 percent rise countywide.

The department now has about 215 deputies - including detectives and supervisors - up from 173 in mid-1994.

The Department of Justice grant will create nine civilian openings for jobs such as crime analyst, public information officer and emergency management co-ordinator.

The executive board of the Spokane County Deputy Sheriff’s Association planned to discuss the proposal Wednesday afternoon, said union president Jerry Brady.

He did not comment on Sterk’s move to create civilian jobs out of positions deputies now hold.

“We don’t want to reduce the deputies positions; that’s not what this is about,” Sterk said.

Funding for the job changes will run three years, with the Justice Department paying $225,000 annually.

That amount will be matched by $108,000 each year from county coffers.

Spokane County commissioners still need to approve a resolution to accept the grant money. The measure is expected to pass.

“We know we need more deputies on the street,” said Commissioner Kate McCaslin, who said the federal grant is one way to make that happen.

It will likely take months before the deputies return to street duty and the civilian job openings are filled, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman said.