TCSO hosts law enforcement career fair in attempt to ‘turn the tide’ of resignations, retirements

TULSA — For the first time, the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office is holding a county-wide career fair, including representatives of various police departments, in an attempt to stem the tide of resignations and retirements which has left law enforcement agencies across the country scrambling to keep their duty rosters filled.

Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Casey Roebuck told KRMG Tuesday her agency, like many in Oklahoma and around the U.S., has increased pay and stepped up recruiting efforts.

Hear the full interview here, or use the player below

“We’re all seeing it,” she told KRMG. “We’re seeing it across the country, we’re seeing it right here in Tulsa County. And the sad thing is, is that the people we serve are going to pay the price for that if we can’t fill these jobs. We don’t want to cut back on community policing things, we don’t want to cut back on the number of people that are answering those calls, because we want to be able to get there quickly when someone needs us. And that’s why we are focusing so heavily on recruiting right now, because this is all we can do to try and turn the tide.”

She said the problem isn’t just keeping CLEET-certified, fully-trained deputies on patrol. They’ve suffered attrition in every area of operations.

“We’ve lost 120 detention officers this year, so we need people to staff our jail,” Roebuck said. “You don’t have to be a certified law enforcement officer to do that. You can just be 18 years old with a high school diploma or a GED, and we can train you to do that job. We need clerks, we need maintenance people, as do these other agencies.”

The law enforcement career fair will take place Tuesday, July 27 from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the River Spirit Expo, upper level.

The agencies which will participate include TCSO, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and police departments including Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Jenks, Owasso, Bixby and Glenpool.

Also represented will be Tulsa County Court Services and Tulsa Community College Police.

Job openings include certified officers, detention officers, clerks, analysts, and maintenance technicians.

TCSO has posted event details here.

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