Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier says when he took office one year ago, the department was in a $6 million deficit. After some organizational changes, he says the department is now on track for a $2.1 million surplus.
Sheriff Napier says he's reduced staff to save money and plans to put those funds toward increasing compensation.
"Our people have gone too long without predictable regular increases in compensation and I know that affects mural greatly and we are working to fix that," he said.
Two additions this year to the Pima County Detention Center are body scanners to block contraband from the jail and welcoming Deputy Leo, the department's new therapy dog.
Breaking down this year's statistics:
- 221 calls for search and rescue
- 1,700 domestic-violence arrests
- 18 homicides... out of those 16 were solved
- 650 DUI arrests
Sheriff Napier applauds the hard work from his department members.
"Everyday I put this uniform on I have the same love for it as the day I first put it on and whenever I hang this up will be a sad day," he said.
The department's Search and Rescue Unit had a busy year rescuing 310 people and is on pace for another record-breaking year.
"We risk lives to save lives," said Sgt. Erick Maldonado. "That is kind of like the search and rescue motto."
He says one of most notable rescues of the year was rescuing 17 people at Tanque Verde Falls during a flash flood.
"To be able to hone in and zero in at the most critical moment takes a lot of training and it takes a lot of courage because you are really putting your life on the line and on the other end of that line literally because we are going down that hoist cable is a child and you can't let go," he said. "All the work, the sweat, everything you have poured into your career to that one moment in time where you got to put it all together with zero mistakes and we were able to successfully complete that mission that day."
Another notable moment of the year was Sgt. Kevin Kubitskey was involved in an officer-involved shooting and rescued a hostage during a carjacking in October.
"When you go through something like this with someone there is a bond that happens that you can't control and never be able to put a price on or a description on and it is binding," said Sgt. Kubitskey.
