Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office hiring; seeks correctional officers
MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office is looking to hire close to 100 correctional officers – and held a hiring event on Tuesday, May 2 to fill that shortage.
"We want to make sure we get the best of the best in order to fill those positions," said Kristine Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Deputy. "We always seek out help from our deputies. They come in and fill those positions, or it will create mandatories for other correctional officers."
Deputy Rodriguez is talking about mandatory overtime. According to the sheriff's office, they have to use a lot of it in order to staff the Milwaukee County Jail.
"Historically, law enforcement positions have been hard to fill," Rodriguez said.
Kristine Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Deputy
Officials with the sheriff's office say they are budgeted for 252 correctional officers. With the current shortage, they say they pull from those extra funds in the budget to compensate for officer overtime.
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"It’s not going to be easy. It's probably not an easy job at all. You probably see things you don’t want to see, hear things you don’t want to hear, and do things you don’t want to do," said Daundre Kafka, a correctional officer applicant.
Daundre Kafka, a correctional officer applicant
Kafka is applying. He said the pay, almost $27 an hour, as well as the career opportunities, make the potential difficulties worth it.
"A lot of it involves deescalating and talking to people on their worst days," Rodriguez said.
Once correctional officers meet their overtime cap, the sheriff's office says it is the deputies that have to stop patrolling the streets and take shifts in the jail.
Milwaukee County Sheriffs Office
"This is why we’re doing this hiring event. So we can relieve some of those stressors and some of the challenges that come with working understaffed," Rodriguez said.
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The sheriff's office has gotten backlash in the past on the amount of overtime being spent at the jail. FOX6 News reached out to a couple of Milwaukee County supervisors who questioned the spending – to get their take. Neither of them were available to speak on Tuesday.