CINCINNATI — An all-county broadcast that went out over police radios and scanners declaring the Hamilton County Justice Center was "closed" was a result of miscommunication, according to Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey.
McGuffey clarified during a press conference Monday, after the all-county broadcast Sunday evening caused confusion.
Sheriff's office officials asked officers to only bring new inmates to be processed into the jail Sunday evening through Monday morning if they were physically arrested or being charged with a felony or violent offense.
Agencies were asked not to bring low-level or nonviolent offenders to the jail and to, instead, cite them and assign them a court date.
"We were not closed, in fact, I can tell you that there was nothing that was altered in the rest of the jail," said McGuffey.
McGuffey said on Sunday night, four people called out sick and four inmates needed to be taken to the hospital, leaving the jail's intake center severely low on staff. The sheriff's office moved around schedules and personnel to cover and brought road patrol officers in to help assist with the inmates needing medical attention at the hospital, McGuffey said.
"The community had nothing, in fact, nothing to fear," she said. "Nobody was turned away from the justice system that needed to come to jail."
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, the jail also restricted intakes and the policy is not a new one, McGuffey said. This time, a miscommunication occurred that led to the word "closed" being used when it should not have, she said.
Staffing issues have plagued the agency for several years, but the issue isn't specific to Hamilton County, according to McGuffey and Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus. Mandatory overtime for officers currently employed by the department has been overtaxing individuals and the sheriff's office remains 50 to 60 officers down, McGuffey said.
Still, she insisted deputies would have been able to cite low-level offenders who couldn't be accommodated in the jail intake Sunday night, assigning them a court date. If those cited don't appear in court or pay their fines, bench warrants can be issued for their arrest.
"They didn't get a free pass, they're totally on our radar," said McGuffey.
Driehaus stressed the staffing issue hasn't been coming down to funds, which county commissioners have worked to supply for both officer pay and recruitment efforts. Instead, it's been a difficult job market with fewer candidates than usual, she said.
When asked if there was anything McGuffey could have done to head off the staffing dearth, she answered quickly.
"Go and tell that guy to get off George Floyd's neck," she said, adding Floyd's death at the hands of officers in Minneapolis in 2020 and other instances of misconduct or brutality widely reported over the years has led to fewer people being interested in becoming law enforcement officers.
McGuffey stressed the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office is doing its part to right legitimate wrongs within law enforcement, but the impact has still been felt on recruitment and staffing.
Still, she said the department is working to get creative in recruitment: The sheriff's office is offering to send recruits to a police academy on the department's dime, they're offering tuition reimbursement, added parental leave and higher wages.
McGuffey said recently 73 people took the exam to become a sergeant within the department; typically, the department sees roughly 12 to 15 people take the exam. She said this is an indication there is a high amount of officers working in the sheriff's office who see it as a career and are invested locally.
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