The ongoing workforce issues throughout the State of Iowa has impacted a lot of businesses and organizations, including law enforcement. 

Dallas County Sheriff Chad Leonard says staffing problems haven’t really been an issue until recently and now Leonard says they are currently down four deputies. Leonard says they are also down six full time jailers as well and that this is a trend nationwide and something that has gotten worse over the years. 

“I used to get 200 applications for one deputy position and now we are getting 40 applications for four deputy positions. After we do a background check or we do the physical fitness test or we do some of the other testing that are mandated by the agency we lose a majority of those people.”

Leonard tells Raccoon Valley Radio he isn’t sure if it is because of people being afraid to be in law enforcement due to law enforcement being put in bad light or other reasons. Leonard encourages those who may be interested to check out the possible career opportunities.

“Reach out to me at the Sheriff’s Office and I will give you a personal tour and show you what the job really entails so you actually have a clear idea of what you’d be getting yourself into and just basically asking people to consider it.”

Leonard says for those who may be interested they can go to dallascountyiowa.gov to look at all Dallas County jobs and can be found here