Cumberland County sheriff credits hiring, scheduling and contract work for early staffing gains and budget savings

Sheriff Michael Donato said Thursday that his first year in office focused on hiring, changing schedules and reallocating staff to put more sworn officers on patrol and reduce overtime costs.

"One of my my biggest goals was to make the sheriff's department have them more visible," Donato told Commissioner Director Jim Sarra on the Spotlight on Cumberland County program. He said the office aimed to deploy deputies to supplement local police departments and increase visible patrols in neighborhoods.

Donato said the sheriff's office entered his tenure short-staffed: "I think when we came in, I was 11 officers short," and that courthouse security required more full staffing because "there's 25 or 26 positions up there that need to be filled when that courthouse is fully functional." He described a multi-pronged hiring push and said the office had more than "20 plus applications in the wind right now" for upcoming academy classes.

To reduce recurring overtime costs, Donato said he revised schedules and increased civilian staffing in dispatch. He said the county returned "90 or maybe a hundred thousand" dollars in operating funds last year, attributing the savings to lower overtime and more civilian dispatch hires that freed sworn officers for patrol and courthouse duties.

Donato said the administration negotiated a contract that he characterized as fair to both sides and that the combination of better pay and more active patrol work helped retain deputies. He said turnover has fallen and that since he took office he lost only a small number of officers to retirements or relocation.

The sheriff described gradual, data-driven management changes rather than immediate personnel overhauls: after meeting supervisors and line staff, he said, "we kinda just watched the process" for a month before instituting planned changes.

Donato also said the sheriff's office is making hiring easier by allowing candidates to begin initial applications online and by planning academy seats this summer, steps he said should accelerate staffing gains.

The interview did not include any formal votes or policy texts and did not cite statutes or ordinance numbers. Donato credited cooperation with county commissioners and local police chiefs for enabling the staffing and retention work and said he expects additional classes and hires to continue through the year.

He framed the staffing work as part of a broader push to increase visible policing and service coverage across Cumberland County: "People want to see Correct Police cars," he said, describing neighborhood patrols and a revived Halloween-detail program as part of that effort.

Donato and Sarra discussed personnel and budget numbers as estimates; where Donato gave ranges or approximate figures (staffing shortfalls, returned operating funds), the article reports them as stated by the sheriff and as approximate.