Sheriff’s Department Salaries and Benefits

* Re: County of Ventura to Look Into Pay, Benefits of Workers. April 24.

I have been a loyal employee of the Sheriff’s Department for just under 18 years. During those years I have seen many policies that have directly affected the way that we do business in the law enforcement community.

I have seen some unincorporated areas that have suffered through times when there was only one, one-man car to handle areas that normally were assigned two cars. Now we are doing our best to remedy that shortcoming by employing two-man cars to better serve the public. Until we can complete the hiring process to man those cars some of those positions have to be filled by a single deputy on overtime.

I am disturbed by Supervisors Flynn and Schillo’s statement that the department is “out of control.” Perhaps they would be more comfortable explaining to their constituents why they are not getting the law enforcement services that they are paying for and why our response times may be 30 minutes or longer. But then again that would not be in line with their own personal political agendas.

As for our educational pay and other benefits that have been negotiated for over the years, Supervisors Flynn and Schillo know that these benefits were offered to us instead of a salary increase to save the county money. I will place our salaries up for comparison against most of the agencies in the county and the taxpayers will see that they are in fact getting their money’s worth. Supervisors Flynn and Schillo should be proud of the men and women that put on the uniform day after day and stop speaking of them as if they are stealing taxpayers’ money.

RON WITHAM

Thousand Oaks