AUSTIN, Texas — The Travis County Sheriff's Office (TCSO) is seeing success with its recruiting efforts, thanks to an ongoing marketing campaign.
In August 2022, the TCSO launched the campaign, hoping to help with recruitment. According to the agency, it did. TCSO saw even more success when sheriff's officials expanded the marketing effort in the summer of 2023.
TCSO officials told the Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday that views on its careers page increased after the initial launch and tripled when the campaign expanded into new markets.
Here's how the marketing effort affected vacancy rates.
Except for corrections officers, vacancy rates for deputies, dispatchers, medical personnel, mental health personnel and facilities deputies hit a 2023 high in January. Corrections officers hit the high in February.
TCSO officials point to a decrease in every area, especially with dispatchers. That went from a 50 % vacancy rate in January to 19% as of this month.
The vacancy rate for corrections officers went from 35% in February of 2023 to 31% in December.
Other vacancy rates and data can be found below:
A survey also showed the majority of new hires were from the Austin area.
Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez thanked the commissioners court for its help on the initiative and said before the court intervened, the office was going backward.
"Not only are we trying to get staff in, but we're trying to maximize those staff to reduce the amount of overtime," Hernandez said.
Like many law enforcement agencies, the TCSO has struggled to fill positions, partly because employees are retiring and resigning. That's why it's asking commissioners to extend the marketing campaign to October when it expires in May.
TCSO officials also recommend the marketing efforts continue as part of TCSO's annual budget for the foreseeable future. They want to exclude the vendor from competitive bidding so the campaign can continue without interruption and only continue the effort in San Antonio and the Waco/Temple/Bryan markets through September of next year.
Sheriff's officials hope to widen the vacancy gap even more next year.