OKLAHOMA CITY — On Monday, Sept. 25, 2023, Oklahoma Senator Darrell Weaver held an interim study session on sheriff's deputy salaries. He listened to a number of county sheriffs who said it's very difficult to find deputies because of the salary competition on the local, state, and federal levels.
“I believe the number one function of government is public safety. If we don't have public safety, then a lot of things are just will go awry," said Weaver. “Our federal partners need law enforcement more than they've ever had. And that's a combination of almost near disaster for our local sheriff's departments”
“I can't compete with my convenience stores in Nowata County. I see billboards that say starting salaries are at $12 an hour. That's more than I pay in the jail," said Nowata County Sheriff Jason McClain. “None of us that sign up to do it for the money. But we've got to provide a livable wage to these young employees that we hire.”
“The people that we've trained, and people that want to emotionally invest in that agency and raise their kids and their babies and their grandbabies there in that county, they're simply going to ... quit over 200 bucks a month and go down the street and be a gunslinger someplace else," said Wagoner County Sheriff Chris Elliot.
The average salary for the state is about $40,000. The work session was to help workshop what the state can do to increase that amount.
Poor salary is a problem LeFlore County Sheriff Rodney Derryberry also sees. He said this could lead to extreme staffing shortages for the sheriff's office.
“If we didn't have the personnel to cover the call volume, it would put us in a situation where we'd have to prioritize calls and lean on other law enforcement even more," said Derryberry. "Hopefully all sides up there at the Capitol will look at this and try to figure something out to help."
Senator Weaver said he's hoping to introduce the issue in the next legislative session in January.
“Hopefully this conversation will go forward,” said Senator Weaver.
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