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WITH DOZENS of unfilled law-enforcement and administrative jobs — and the recent departure of at least two deputies for the brand new Citrus Heights Police Department — Monterey County Sheriff Mike Kanalakis constantly faces the challenge of finding qualified officers and keeping them on the payroll. His challengers in the June 6 election, bailiff Vincent Earland and Sgt. Robert Oen, believe they can do a better job.

“It’s important we keep our people, because they’re our single most important resource,” Kanalakis said. “We train them, invest in them, and then if they’re lured away by a better paying job, it leaves a hole in our agency.”

And fewer people doing more work leads to poor morale, according to Kanalakis, who has eliminated 44 additional positions to save $6.4 million since he took office in January 2003.

The department needs to offer better pay and benefits to would-be deputies, said Kanalakis, who has frequently asked the Monterey County Board of Supervisors to give his agency a larger share of the county budget.

According to his undersheriff, Nancy Cuffney, recruits earn $3,996 per month, plus benefits. After graduating from the academy, their pay increases to $4,440 per month and can reach $5,776 per month.

“We have to pay the top in the county in order to retain the best people in the county,” Kanalakis said.

In addition, many are deterred by the prospect of spending their first few years working in the jail, as required.

Earland accused Kanalakis and his staff of doing little to recruit and retain deputies.

“We offer a job and salary — basically that’s all,” he said. “The job is very dangerous, and deputies learn they have to go work at the jail with more than 1,300 dangerous inmates.”

Earland, who came to work for the sheriff’s office a decade ago after careers in the military and business, said deputies asked him to oppose Kanalakis. He called the jail “a deplorable place to work,” and said most new hires prefer patrol.

“There are people who like to work corrections — don’t get me wrong,” he said. He believes the sheriff’s office should recruit guards at the state prisons and cross-train deputies to handle a variety of assignments.

“We hire them, we train them and then they go to Salinas P.D. or one of the other agencies in the county or another county,” commented Oen, a 30-year MCSO veteran who works as a sergeant in the jail but has been out on medical leave for neck surgery. “We have to really sit down and think about how we do things. The majority of the people who come to work with us don’t want to work the jail.”

Oen proposed training and rotating deputies through patrol and jail duties, and then giving those who prefer corrections the option to stay.
“And we need to actively recruit people,” he said. “We’re not doing that.”

Cuffney said recruitment/retention is the agency’s No. 1 concern, but it has to compete with all others in law enforcement at job fairs.
“The number of qualified candidates isn’t what it used to be, when the military was such a feeder for us,” she added.

The department especially wants homegrown recruits who have ties to the area and will likely stay here despite the high costs of living and home prices — reasons frequently cited by deputies when they leave.

All three candidates agreed the old jail needs work and pledged to find tax dollars to help rebuild it.

“The jail is my issue,” Oen said. “They talk about remodeling, but we should just bulldoze the whole thing.”

Cuffney said one-third of the department commutes from outside the area, leaving few opportunities for recreational time and developing esprit de corps, and Kanalakis blamed low morale on finances.

“When you’re in a situation such as we are and you’re not able to provide the tools necessary to do the job — and in many cases you have to take things away from your workforce — that lowers morale,” said Kanalakis.

Old equipment, forced overtime and doubling up in patrol cars contribute to dissatisfaction on the job.

“It all comes down to money and resources, and I’m trying to work very hard to bring that into perspective,” said Kanalakis, who wants to restore 44 jobs that were cut and put deputies back on school grounds and in remote areas such as Big Sur.

At the recommendation of the 2004 Monterey County Civil Grand Jury, he hired a firm to audit staffing and operations. “The main purpose of that is to assist in making recommendations for the budget,” he said, which amounts to about $66 million.

“We’re undermanned, understaffed and overworked,” said Earland. “When there are cuts, they’re always at the bottom, with the little guy, not the big guy.”

He also blames poor morale on a disconnect between upper management and the front lines — a sentiment with which Oen agrees.

“He’s removed from everything,” he said. “He’s isolated himself, and I don’t think he really knows what’s going on on the ground floor of operations.”

Kanalakis, a lifelong Monterey resident, attended San Jose State University and served in the Air Force until 1976 — including assignments in Strategic Air Command and Tactical Air Command. He was sworn in as a deputy with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office 29 years ago and rose through the ranks, serving as commander of 10 different divisions as well as interim chief of Greenfield P.D. He also obtained a master’s degree from Golden Gate University.

Since being elected sheriff, Kanalakis said he spearheaded a countywide gang task force, a bomb squad set to become active this summer, an agricultural task force, the K-9 detail, fingerprint and iris identification systems in the jail, online services and balanced budgets, among other accomplishments.

His vision is to “eradicate gangs and gang violence, eliminate illicit drugs from our neighborhoods and schools, prevent school violence, better prepare our communities to deal with disasters and terrorist acts, and ensure better service to enhance the quality of life for everyone.”

His endorsements include the Deputy Sheriff’s Association — which he won over Earland by a single vote — the National Latino Peace Officers Association, the Monterey County Association of Realtors, SEIU Local 817, Operating Engineers Local No. 3 and the Peace Officers Research Association of California, as well as four of five Monterey County supervisors. (The exception was 5th District Supervisor Dave Potter.)

Earland, originally from Philadelphia, Pa., served 20 years in the Air Force, including a dozen in special operations for the National Security Agency.

“That’s where I picked up a lot of my pizzazz, you might say,” he said, as well as a lot of training.

After retiring, he started a business purchasing distressed properties, renovating them and selling them for a profit. He and his wife moved to the Peninsula to open and run businesses in Seaside, after which he became a police services assistant for Seaside P.D. Investigators there told him he should attend the police academy, and after graduating, he went to work for the sheriff’s office, which offered more money than SPD, in 1996.

If elected, Earland said he would streamline the department and reorganize all bureaus to save money that could be used for drug enforcement task forces, SWAT, emergency response teams and more front-line and administrative jobs. Earland said he would draw up a new retention scheme, seek bond funds to fix the jail, and run the department to “operate more efficiently, economically and safely.”

He received the endorsement of Monterey County prosecutors.

Born in Ohio, Oen graduated from college and served in the military before moving to Santa Cruz in 1973.

“When I was about 6 years old, we were in a car accident caused by a drunk driver, and my father was killed,” he said, which motivated him as an adult to pursue a career in law enforcement through which he hoped to effect positive change.

Earland became a Monterey County Sheriff’s deputy in 1975 and was promoted to his current rank of sergeant five years later. He has spent his entire career working in the jail.

After trying unsuccessfully to get others to challenge Kanalakis and Earland, he decided to enter the race himself. As sheriff, Oen said he would be a public servant, not a politician, and would ask for high-level pay cuts to fund more deputy positions.

“The money with which we operate the sheriff’s department is actually your tax money. Our jobs as stewards of your money involve our ability to manage and spend your money wisely,” he said.

He also pledged to “take good care of the deputies, so they will be able to take good care of you.”

He has sought no endorsements and will accept no contributions.

The election for sheriff will be held June 6. If no single candidate captures 50 percent plus one vote, a runoff will be held Nov. 7.