Sheriff David Davis:”More deputies have quit in the last two months than the first half of 2018″

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Macon-Bibb County may have found a solution to its money problems, but the consequences of how long it took are still being felt at the expense of public safety.

“This has really been a summer of uncertainty,” said Sheriff David Davis.

For deputies with the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, wearing its badge hasn’t been easy over the last few months.

“Talk of furloughs, talk of contributions by employees for pension,” Sheriff Davis told 41NBC.

Back and forth over funding and budget cuts left many unsure of whether the job would be worth it with less employee benefits.

“It has caused some consternation and uncertainty among many of my employees,” he explained.

According to Sheriff Davis, his office has had more deputies quit within the last two months than the number they had in the first half of the year.

“January 1st through May 31st we only lost 15 people, but from June 1st through this week we’ve lost 19 people,” he said.

That brings the total number to 34 so far.

“For those 34 that have left, there’s others that are having to work double time, work extra,” the Sheriff went on.

In his 38 years in law enforcement, he’s never seen anything like it.

“There’s always been times we’ve been understaffed but we’ve never been to this level of decreased staff as we are now,” he said.

With the budget now passed and furlough days a part of the agreement, it’s a loss Sheriff Davis says has already started to impact the community.

“The incidents that we have happen…you know we have four murders in a week, and there’s only so many investigators that can go out and work that,” he said.

Now, he and the other three constitutional officers have agreed to absorb the cost of those furlough days in hopes to ease the burden. Their total budget is around $50 million and out of that, only about $200,000 will go toward covering the cost of furlough days for its employees.

“Both at the sheriff’s office and even at the fire department, we’re 24/7 operations and somebody has to be there to fulfill that mission,” he stated.

Davis says he’s encouraging anyone interested in law enforcement to apply. Here’s a link to get started.

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office currently has a little more than 500 sworn officers. Before consolidation, they had more than 700 on staff. Davis says ideally, he’d be able to hire 80-90 more officers.