Vaccine-related firings exacerbate King County Sheriff vacancies

King County Sheriff’s Office continues to struggle with job vacancies. The agency is looking to fill 172 open positions, or about 15 percent of its total workforce. And the county’s employee vaccine mandate, issued last August, hasn’t helped.

The Sheriff’s Office lost 55 employees, mostly commissioned officers, as a result of the vaccine mandate.

Council member Reagan Dunn says the county can’t afford to lose any more deputies at a time when gun violence is on the rise.

“It’s just so frustrating because there were 460 shootings in King County last year,” Dunn said. “And record gun homicides in King County this year is not looking good either.”

The county is trying to attract new recruits with signing bonuses, thanks to a $4 million supplemental budget approved by the council last year. But it’s competing with other cities offering even bigger financial incentives.

Sheriff-select Patti Cole-Tindall told the council she wants to change the culture within the agency and make it a desirable workplace.

“My goal,” Cole-Tindall said, “is to make to make the sheriff’s office a premier law enforcement agency where we can fill these vacancies and we will have a line of people who want to come work for the Sheriff’s Office.”

Cole-Tindall says there are nearly 100 officers eligible for retirement, and she’s looking for ways to encourage them to stay on a little longer.

“If our numbers continue to increase, in terms of our commission vacancies,” she said, “we are at risk of not being able to provide public safety.”