Snohomish County struggling to find new deputies

EVERETT, Wash. — A new report says the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office is struggling to fill open positions.

Last year, the sheriff asked the county council to budget for 30 more deputies, but currently, Sheriff Susanna Johnson is still trying to fill the 25 vacancies the office had at the start of this year.

According to the Everett Herald, between January 1 and June 20, the office hired 14 new deputies out of 174 candidates. However, 13 deputies left during that time, leaving the agency with a net gain of one deputy.

The Herald says the biggest issue in finding new deputies is that law enforcement agencies across the region are competing for the same pool of candidates.

According to a statement from Steven D. Strachan, Executive Director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, the state has had a problem with recruitment and retention of officers for years.

“For more than a dozen years, Washington has had the fewest law enforcement officers per capita, ranking 51st in the nation and since 2019 that ratio declined even further. We need to act quickly to begin to catch up with the growth of our region,” it said, in part.

According to the Everett Herald, the sheriff’s office is looking into ways to change the hiring process to boost recruitment-- including removing oral board interviews.

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