SAN ANTONIO, TX. – On Tuesday, August 1, 2023, Bexar County Commissioners Court approved a historic agreement with the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Bexar County and the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. The agreement will adjust deputies’ salaries to match fair market levels and will provide the BCSO greater flexibility in its recruitment of patrol officers.
“We applaud this adjustment to our collective bargaining agreement, because it will enable higher recruitment and better retention of deputy sheriffs,” says Ronald Tooke, President of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Bexar County. “For far too long, we’ve been short several hundreds of deputies in the jail and on patrol. Our deputies are constantly forced to work extra shifts. This agreement is a step in the right direction.“
The new fair market value salaries will make BCSO positions competitive with those of other Texas law enforcement agencies. The Deputy Sheriff’s union has long pointed to insufficient wages as a hurdle to recruitment and retention. In its 2022 study, Detain, Inc., an independent consultant, found that BCSO deputies were the lowest paid in the State’s six major metropolitan counties, with entry-level pay 15.9% and maximum pay 39.6% below the average. Even surrounding rural counties, such as Kendall, Atascosa, Guadalupe, and Comal, all offered higher entry-wages.
The second component of the agreement, the so-called ‘straight to the streets‘ program, will allow the BCSO to hire qualified patrol officers without requiring them to first serve as detention officers in the Bexar County Adult Detention Facility. Until now, anyone seeking employment as a patrol officer has had to first serve as a detention officer. In parallel, the agreement also enables employed detention officers without possession of a peace officer license to apply directly to patrol positions and receive preference points over non-detention applicants. Currently detention officers, who often work nearly 80 hours a week, are unable to go to school to obtain such licenses due to work restrictions. All patrol applicants will still be required to attend the patrol academy.
