HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – Harris County Commissioners Court approved funding Tuesday that will allow the sheriff’s office to offer a retention incentive for detention officers.
It’s all part of a bigger $7.4M plan to make improvements to the jail following a failed inspection in March, in-custody deaths, and staffing challenges.
The retention incentive will be paid over a series of installments, which are expected to start as soon as October.
“What it will do is provide a retention incentive for all current detention officers and any officers that are hired in the future,” said Phillip Bosquez, Asst. Chief of Detention Command with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Asst. Chief Bosquez said the $4,000 retention incentive for detention officers, that commissioners court signed off on Tuesday, is already energizing his staff. Those incentives will start as early as October with $1,000 and every six months an additional $1,000 installment.
“Any line of work, right, your salary helps your motivation or your mindset, so by taking care of the officers who are doing the work, yeah, we think it will make those impacts and again we’re seeing them coming to work with a better mindset,” he said.
Eric Batton, Executive Director of the Harris County Deputies Organization, said he doesn’t think the $4,000 incentive will retain staff long-term that’s already overworked, underpaid, and working in an overcrowded facility.
“The only one way to get people in the door, at this point, is to pay them,” Batton said. “And this is a systemic problem going on across the country right now. People just don’t want to do this job anymore. The only way you’re gonna get some people to do the job is to improve the environment they’re working in and to pay them.”
Batton said he thinks the number one priority is improving the environment at the jail, which can be achieved by boosting the staffing levels. Meanwhile, Bosquez said the incentives are just the first step. They hope to look at pay packages and pay scales in the future.
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