LOW UNEMPLOYMENT Denton, Dallas, Tarrant and Collin counties have seen lower unemployment rates than in previous years. Because of this, the job market is competitive to employ people. This means employees choose where they want to work, which leaves law enforcement struggling to hire, according to local officials.
JOB INCREASE The counties have seen an increase in the numbers of overall jobs. Collin county Dallas county Denton county Tarrant county Key:
2.5M
2,088,756
Key: COLLIN COUNTY
Employed Unemployed
1,863,939
2M
DALLAS COUNTY
58,044
18,625
1.5M
1,130,578
1,432,852
626,815
608,190
1,374,808
Total
Total
967,575
1M
608,712
420,897
DENTON COUNTY
TARRANT COUNTY
500K
39,932
16,717
363,203
252,665
1,129,345
552,700
535,983
1,089,413
0
Total
Total
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Years
SOURCE: WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS FOR NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS/COMMUNITY IMPACT
SOURCE: WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS FOR NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS/COMMUNITY IMPACT
Eads said. “You can’t incarcerate people with- out having detention officers,” he said. These officers are “critical” to the
detention center. Skinner, from Collin County, reiter- ated Eads point. Staffing presents seri- ous challenges and it is an issue that he manages on a daily basis, Skinner said
many sheriffs provide not only law-en- forcement services but also supervise the county jail, a sheriff’s challenges extend to the corrections field as well.” Currently, the Collin County Sheriff’s Office has just under 10% openings in line-level detention officers and just under 3% openings in line-level deputy sheriffs, Skinner said. “Unfortunately, in many Sheriffs Offices across the country, the vacancy rate exceeds 35%,” he said. “By any measure this is a crisis.” Challenges facing a short staff In December, Dallas County had 120 vacancies in detention areas out of 1,481, Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown said. That staffing level has created chal- lenges, she said. The issue is the jail is regulated by the
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21.6%. And in Tarrant County, jobs increased by 7.7%. To combat the shortage, officials have turned to recruiting and finan- cial incentives. Staffing shortages These law enforcement staffing chal- lenges are not limited to North Texas but have been seen state-wide, Denton County Judge Andy Eads said. “Denton county is not alone in our challenges here,” he said. “It’s a state- wide and national trend.” Denton’s Sheriff Department has seen a decrease in applications for law enforcement and is now experiencing a 35% staffing level at its jail. Having a fully functioning jail is essential to public safety and the judicial system,
" UNFORTUNATELY, IN MANY SHERIFFS OFFICES ACROSS THE COUNTRY, THE VACANCY RATE EXCEEDS 35%. BY ANY MEASURE THIS IS A CRISIS." JIM SKINNER, COLLIN COUNTY SHERIFF AND CHAIR OF THE GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE FOR THE NATIONAL SHERIFFS’ ASSOCIATION
public safety infrastructure, he said. The shortage has caused a bur- den on the jail staff, Eads said, as employees now have to take on more shifts to appropriately man the
in an email. “Like other agencies in law enforce- ment, sheriffs across the state and across the nation are facing serious staffing challenges,” he said. “Because
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