The office says it continues using six deputies for transportation and four detention officers as payments resume after a two-month gap.
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office says it has not reduced the staff used to transport detainees, disputing an allegation made by the county jail trust in a court filing Friday.
“We still have the same level of staffing,” spokesman Aaron Brilbeck told OK Politics Today on Monday.
Brilbeck said 10 employees remain assigned to the operation: six deputies working in transportation and four detention officers. He said the office is operating as it did before Sheriff Tommie Johnson III ended its transportation agreement with the trust and is continuing the work under a judge’s order.
The sheriff’s office is again being paid by the jail trust for the transportation work after a two-month gap while the dispute played out. Brilbeck said the office sought the same level of funding because it maintained the same staffing.
The Oklahoma County Budget Board voted Aug. 20 to move $800,000 previously budgeted for the jail trust into a new inmate-transportation line item.
Different staffing measures
The sheriff’s response addresses the overall number of employees. The jail trust’s filing made a narrower allegation, saying the number of deputies assigned to each transport van had been reduced from two to one.
Rodney Heggy, an attorney for the trust, alleged in a sworn affidavit that the change cut transportation service in half, created safety concerns and violated a court order requiring the sheriff to continue transporting detainees.
Brilbeck did not address whether the number of deputies assigned to each van had changed. The court has not determined whether the trust’s allegations are true.
Johnson filed the lawsuit in June, arguing that state law makes the trust responsible for transporting detainees between the Oklahoma County Detention Center and the courthouse and staffing courthouse holding cells. The trust’s governing document excludes those duties from its responsibilities.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond concluded that the sheriff remains responsible. The sheriff’s office remains under a May court order requiring it to continue transporting detainees while the dispute is resolved.
The trust has scheduled a Sept. 24 deposition of a sheriff’s office representative about transportation staffing and funding. A hearing on Johnson’s request for a ruling without a trial remains scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Oct. 15.
