Oakland County Sheriff's Office struggles to fill nearly 100 vacancies, as office turns to support program

OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (Fox 2) - The Oakland County Sheriff's Office has nearly 100 vacancies it has been trying to fill.

"We’re doing everything we can to add people," Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.

A number of factors are impacting the office's numbers, he said.

"We had Covid, obviously. Most of the country started working from home. We never did. So we had, you know at any given point, sometimes we got 100 off with Covid, at any given time. We may have had 80 people off with line-of-duty injuries or other things, plus another 80 or 100 vacancies. Now you can see, it’s really got a problem trying to fill those spots," Bouchard said. 

The Oxford High School shooting also caused major trauma for first responders. 

Bouchard also cited police ambushes.

"The tragic fact is this – in the last 2, 2 ½ years or so police ambushed, ambushes on police, police deaths from violent encounters are up dramatically across the country. The only number that eclipses line-of-duty deaths for the last two years running is police suicides. So, we need help on that front, and we’re trying to address it, trying to support our people in this tough time," he said.

With one full-time employee providing peer-to-peer counseling, Bouchard said he needs to add staffing there, too. 

The Frontline Strong Together program is helping.

"These are first responders who themselves are trained to not only help each other but also detect issues that could be of importance," said Dr. Arash Javanbakht, with the program.

The program developed by Wayne State University and funded by the state is designed to provide resources to those who work under extreme pressure. 

"There are therapies. There’s basically talking to a clinician who can help the person basically figure out what’s happening. A lot of people with trauma, first responders deal with the issues of guilt, what’s happened to me, or survivor’s guilt. The meaning the person has created for the experience. The feeling of shame about the symptoms," Javanbakht said.