PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia sheriff is floating the idea of creating a training academy for sheriff’s deputies in the city that could also serve surrounding counties.
At her budget hearing this week, Sheriff Rochelle Bilal acknowledged staffing shortages in her office and, as at least part of a solution, proposed establishing a local Sheriff’s Academy so recruits would not have to decamp to the current training facility in State College for 19 weeks before being sworn in.
“We could get a thousand people to apply, and then we get to orientation and they find out they have to go to Penn State five days a week and stay up there, they disappear,” she said.
Bilal did not have a cost estimate but said she’d already identified a site and sent a request to lease it to the city. She said the facility could generate revenue by serving surrounding counties as well.
Bilal is seeking a $20 million increase to her budget, currently $34 million, to hire more deputies.
She also suggested that pay should be increased to make the job more competitive.
Council member Nic O’Rourke asked for more data and suggested raising deputies’ salaries might be more effective.