Marion County deputies warn about dangerous staffing shortage

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INDIANAPOLIS — Marion County sheriff's deputies warn they don't have enough staff on the department and it's becoming a serious public safety issue.

They say right now, there aren't enough deputies to staff the jail safely, to cover courtrooms, to serve all needed warrants or to check on registered sex offenders.

Some say low pay is to blame.

Video from a courtroom brawl during a paternity hearing back in March showed furniture and fists flying, with no deputies in sight to break it up until well after damage was done.

"There was not a deputy present inside the courtroom, no there was not," Marion County Sheriff's Col. James Martin told 13News in March.

Some say the staffing shortage and safety concerns exposed then have now turned into a crisis in Marion County.

"It's gotten to the point now where it has gotten extremely unsafe and has become a major public safety issue," said Lt. Brian Hogue with the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Hogue, who is also president of the Marion County sheriff's deputies' collective bargaining unit, puts the blame squarely on salaries. He said potential recruits choose to work in Boone, Hamilton, Johnson, or other donut counties because they get paid more.

"All surrounding counties make anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 more a year than we do," Hogue said.

Here's a comparison of first year salaries for deputies:

Hogue warns in Indianapolis there are consequences to that discrepancy: the public and deputies are put in danger without more staff.

"The less people we have, the less protection for anyone going to court, protection for the inmates while they're in jail, protection from people that are out with felony warrants that should be caught and put in jail," he said. "There are fights inside the jail. There's fights with inmates and deputies. It's just...it's just not a safe place to be right now."

The sheriff's department said it's working closely with the city to boost deputy pay, including sign-on bonuses, no overtime cap, and adding private security for the CJC.

When the collective bargaining agreement ends, next year, some want much more.

Safety, Hogue said, is at stake.

"We need to be setting the bar for salaries, not trying to catch up to other counties," Hogue said, "because there's purely not enough people and we can't keep the people that we have."

13News reached out to the city and to the MCSO for comment.

The Sheriff's Office shared this response:

The following is an update on Marion County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) staffing issues. The MCSO has worked closely with the City and the new Controller to help address better pay to recruit and retain MCSO Deputies:

The City maintains that it is not in a position to increase starting salaries for Deputies because they are subject to a collective bargaining agreement through the end of 2024. The City will begin working on negotiations in the new year.

The City is committed to funding a $50,000 wage study to help assist in the MCSO negotiations. The MCSO's goal for the negotiations will be to implement the "market pay" remedy, directed by the 2018 KPMG study. Once "market pay" is achieved, the MCSO believes that the manpower shortage will be addressed.

A city of Indianapolis spokesperson shared this statement with 13News:

Over recent months, the Controller's Office has continued to work with the Marion County Sheriff's Office to hire and retain deputies. That includes improving longevity pay for MCSO officers under the collective bargaining agreement, increasing the sign-on bonus for detention deputies to $10,000, supporting a marketing campaign for hiring, adding private security to supplement MCSO staffing, and more. Conversations with MCSO will continue into this year's budget season and through 2024 when the current collective bargaining agreement ends.