MENDOCINO Co., 4/1/22 — Mendocino County Sheriff Matthew Kendall is asking the county for a new $20,000 hiring bonus to help recruit sheriff’s deputies from other law enforcement agencies, as well as a $7,000 incentive for deputies who self-finance their education at the police academy, when the Board of Supervisors hold their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, April 6. If approved, the $20,000 bonus for “lateral transfers” would be four times greater than the $5,000 signing bonus currently on offer from the San Francisco Police Department. 

Kendall said in a letter to the board the increased stress associated with low staffing levels are leading deputies currently on staff to take jobs elsewhere or retire early — and without these incentives, staffing levels will continue to erode. “There has only been one other time in my 30+ year career with the sheriff’s office that we have seen personnel numbers this low,” Kendall wrote.

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