BEND, Or -- The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office needs to hire more deputies to be fully staffed. 

“Right now, we’ve got 23 deputy sheriff openings, and that’s split between our Corrections Division and our Patrol Division. Usually when things are going well in the private sector, it’s more difficult for us to find individuals,” says Sheriff Shane Nelson adding existing staff have to pick up the slack through overtime, so law enforcement efforts don’t suffer. 

“We’ve been trying to hire these positions and fill these positions, but it seems like every time we get individuals hired, then we have natural attrition. We have retirements, we have folks moving or leaving the area, we have folks that are looking for a different opportunity; so, it’s difficult. We’ve hired 25 people each year, the last two years, and here we are still having these openings.”

He also blames outside forces for a lack of applicants, “The national news media focusing on the bad apples does not help that profession find people that want to come do that job.”

Nelson tells KBND News there’s no experience necessary. The state provides law enforcement training. “I want to find the best people and then we will train them in what they need to be trained in, so they can go and be a successful deputy sheriff. We also have other openings in our office. We have openings in professional staff and nurses, so there’s a number of opportunities with your Sheriff’s Office.”