To be the most effective, Kostreba said, his department should have two more deputies on each shift. Most nights, the department has one sergeant and two or three deputies on duty to cover the entire county. He said he hoped to be able to add more positions in the near future, but the county is working with a difficult budget. Sherburne County looks at its officers ratio of dedicated and undedicated time to determine the ideal number of deputies, Goodmanson said. Instead, the department aims for deputies to have 50 to 60 percent undedicated time during their shifts.
Dedicated time is spent answering calls for assistance.
Examples of undedicated time are patrolling, enforcing speed limits, and doing community and proactive policing, Goodmanson said. Sherburne County has the highest number of officers on duty from 3 p.m. to 3 a.m., when one or two sergeants and up to six officers work, Goodmanson said. Sherburne County s staff levels also rose in the last year through a large addition to its jail. But those staff members do not patrol the county. Although the Benton County Sheriff s Department has at least 75 fewer staff members than either Stearns or Sherburne counties, the department has had the largest improvement in number of staff members per 1,000 population.