By Aileen B. Flores
El Paso Times
EL PASO, Texas — The El Paso County Sheriff’s Officers Association may not support a new work schedule for detention officers, but Sheriff Richard Wiles said the county has already saved more than $60,000 with the new schedule.
In a two-week period, the overtime at the jail annex decreased from $68,000 to $6,000, Wiles said during Commissioner Carlos Leon’s monthly round table meeting this week.
“In two weeks we have saved $62,000,” he said.
Last year, the Sheriff’s Office spent $3.4 million in overtime between the Downtown Jail and the East Side Jail Annex.
Wiles said most of the overtime is paid to officers at the Downtown Jail where the new work schedule starts Sunday.
Detention officers were moved from a five-day eight-hour work schedule to a schedule of three-day 12-hour shifts and four hours on the fourth day. There are 670 detention officers working for the county.
But the change was not welcomed by the Sheriff’s association.
On May 19, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Officers Association sued Wiles in an attempt to stop the new schedule.
The union, which negotiates contracts for sheriff’s employees, asked for a temporary restraining order to stop the new schedule.
According to the lawsuit, the union argues that the schedule changes violate its collective bargaining agreement.
“The Association will, in all likelihood, suffer imminent and irreparable harm in the form of lost compensation, accrued benefits, and interference with the Association’s rights to collectively bargain on all matter governed by § 174.023, Tex. Local Govt. Code.,” the lawsuit states.
The temporary restraining order was dismissed, but the union has filed for an appeal, Wiles said.
The case is still pending.
Wiles said the union does not want the 12-hour shift because detention officers do not want to lose the overtime.
“I get that you get used to the overtime and your standard of living rises, but that’s not my issue. My issue is to run the jail efficiently and save taxpayers money and you should not be living above your means,” Wiles said.
Commander Tom Whitten studied the operations of the jail system in El Paso County and made the recommendations to change the schedule and move some personnel from operational jobs to work on the jail floors. The operational jobs include gang intelligence, booking, releasing, transport and escort.
Wiles said most of the overtime was needed to meet the state requirement to have one guard for 48 inmates.
Right now, there has to be three to four detention officers per floor to meet the Texas Commission on Jail Standards requirements.
Wiles said his office is in the process of asking the TCJS for a variance to allow the Sheriff’s Office to have one jailer for 61 inmates.
“The reason we did not ask for that variance before was because we understood we could not get one. But after taking a tour of the Houston’s jail, we found out they have a variance for something else. It’s worth the shot,” Wiles said.
The schedule changes came at the same time Commissioners Court hired an architect to perform a study to find out whether the county needs to replace or fix the Downtown Jail.