The Marion County Sheriff’s Office has spent $175,000 on a new marketing campaign the agency says has helped improve recruiting and boost the number of candidates applying for jobs.
The sheriff’s office has faced the same challenges as law enforcement agencies across the U.S. in hiring and retaining staff.
“Qualified candidates for public safety jobs are in very high demand and overall interest in public safety careers seems to have gone down in the last several years,” Marion County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Jeremy Schwab said. “We have to remain competitive in the job market and ensure prospective candidates know the many reasons why MCSO is a great place to work.”
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office has 375 employees in enforcement (patrol, search and rescue, SWAT), institutions (jail), operations (administration, courthouse security, background investigations) and community corrections (parole and probation).
The department contracts for police services with cities including Aurora, Jefferson and Sublimity, and also serves unincorporated east Salem with enhanced patrols through a public safety fee.
Of Marion County’s $732 million budget for this fiscal year, $90 million goes to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office issued a request for proposals for the marketing campaign in late 2023.
The agency in March signed a three-year, $175,000 contract with Watson Creative, a Portland-based company that has done similar work for Washington County Sheriff’s Office. The work included the development of a comprehensive recruitment strategy, market research, photography, videography, website design, advertising, graphic design and social media content development.
Schwab said Marion County Sheriff’s Office did not have the skills or “internal expertise” to complete the website redesign and recruitment campaign.
The campaign launched toward the end of this summer. Schwab said the agency has already seen an increase in the number of applicants and the number of potential applicants requesting information.
He said the agency has been “reaching areas that have not been reached before” and seeing more out-of-area applicants.
Staffing shortage has put strain on Marion County Sheriff’s Office
A staffing shortage was one reason the sheriff’s office closed its Transition Center in August.
The agency has struggled with a full jail for years, often being forced to release “the least-worst person” into the community to free up space for incoming offenders deemed dangerous, Sheriff Nick Hunter told the Statesman Journal in August.
Even with more money, the jail was unable to open up more beds due to limited staff.
Closing the under-utilized Transition Center and moving its staff to the jail allowed the jail to increase capacity by 55 beds.
‘Make the Move’
The redesigned recruitment website for the sheriff’s office features image-heavy pages with the slogan “Make the Move.”
“At Marion County Sheriff’s Office, we don’t stand still, we step up. We don’t wait to make a difference, we act to make an impact. We don’t work jobs, we forge careers,” a message on the website reads.
The website also includes employee testimonials, information about benefits and a guide to the hiring process.
It advertises information about sworn and non-sworn positions. The positions currently open include a corrections nurse, an enforcement deputy and two Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion navigators.
Statesman Journal reporter Bill Poehler contributed to this report.
Isabel Funk covers breaking news and public safety for the Statesman Journal. Funk can be reached at ifunk@statesmanjournal.com or on X at @isabeldfunk
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Marion County sheriff spends $175K on recruitment campaign