‘A huge hit’: With dwindling officer numbers, deputies take over for Huron PD

It’s a move requested by the city, and ultimately approved by the Huron City Council Wednesday, after recent turnover and officer injuries left them incapable of providing around-the-clock patrols.

“We’re authorized a total of 15 sworn positions with the department, and right now we have six sworn positions,” said Huron Chief John Hall. “As I’m sure you can imagine, going from 15 to six is a huge hit.”

Hall says two of the six remaining officers were injured on the job, leaving them even further limited. When the numbers dwindled to where they are now, he says they had to make the call to the sheriff’s office and make the request to the council.

“We formalized a contract for the next 90 days to continue providing those services while we hire people, get them training, and essentially build up our staffing level so we can go back to providing 24/7 services,” Hall said.

In total, four deputies and one sergeant are in the city of just over 7,000 people, costing more than $400,000 for roughly three months of patrols.

“We did look at what we spent in a three-month period, and that was around $385,000. So, we are going to be paying a little bit more to have the sheriffs here, but it’s either paying that extra amount or not having officers to respond,” said Huron City Manager Virginia Peñaloza.

Sheriff John Zanoni on Friday said his deputies have provided help to Fresno County cities before upon request, though he says the 24/7 coverage in Huron will be a new one. Still, he said he gave the approval, considering the worrying situation.

“That’s just not feasible,” said Zanoni regarding patrolling the city, given the department’s staffing difficulties. “So, we are going to provide that coverage until they can hire some more officers, get some people trained up.”

The contract runs for three months, but if things get better—or worse—that can change.

Zanoni says they have also given Huron the option to take over service in the city full-time.

“We actually have created a staffing proposal for them. It would be more expensive, but at that point, if we were taking over full-time indefinitely, then we would need to hire on additional full-time deputy sheriffs to fulfill that obligation,” Zanoni said.

At this point, Huron says they prefer to keep their department and hire more staff.

Retention is also a big point of focus, they say, and they’re working to add additional incentives to keep officers around long-term.

One thing they said they’re looking into is vehicles Huron officers could take home with them, as many commute from outside the city.