King County Sheriff Steve Strachan announced last week that 14 new deputies will be hired over the course of the next few months to “beef up” patrol in unincorporated areas of the county.
Today Sheriff Strachan said he anticipates that as many as 3 of the new deputies will be assigned to the unincorporated areas in the southeast part of the county that surround Maple Valley, Auburn and Enumclaw.
“The southeast area is geographically spread out, which has traditionally made response times longer,” said King County Sheriff Steve Strachan. “Adding more deputies to the area will better serve our residents in terms of service and visibility, along with improving our response, and will add a safety factor for our deputies when critical backup is needed.”
“This is just what the public expects from its elected leaders – to deliver the services they need within the extremely limited revenues we have,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “By collaborating with his staff to create new efficiencies, the Sheriff is able to put more police on the street within his existing budget, and I thank him for that.”
The hiring process began in September and will continue through January of 2013. The 14 new deputies will complete training by the end of 2013.
