Because of round-the-clock shifts and overtime, one of the obstacles to recruiting and retention for the San Diego County Sheriff's Department has been affordable childcare.
To help tackle the issue, the department has teamed up with a local online childcare company called TOOTRiS to provide an affordable option around the clock.
Keeping up with 17-month-old Carter is one of his parent’s toughest assignments.
“He’s rambunctious and a lot of work,” laughed his father, San Diego deputy Daniel Psomas.
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A lot of that work, for now, falls on Psomas’ wife's plate.
She’s put her nursing dreams on pause to be a stay-at-home mom to their son and daughter on the way, since Daniel's hours can be pretty erratic — working nights, weekends and holidays to lots of overtime.
Sheriff Kelly Martinez knows the difficulties of balancing childcare and career firsthand. She worked in the narcotics division, getting call-outs at 3 a.m. while raising a 4-year-old as a single mom.
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She’s also seen the job’s impact on recruitment and retention.
“Our women's jail in particular, a lot of women at Las Colinas, they've quit the job because they want to start a family and they don’t think this job works for families."
Hoping to stem the tide, the department has become the first law enforcement agency in the country to team up with TOOTRis.
It's an app that's like the Zillow of childcare, connecting parents and showing vacancies in real time, of 200,000 licensed care providers no matter what shift they work.
“Each one of these providers has a page and on that page you can click on their license. And you can see if they've had three visits by the state, you can click on the reports and see what they found. So you feel good about the place you’re dropping your kids off at," explained Jeff McAdam of TOOTRiS.
Sheriff Martinez called the platform a potentially powerful tool for recruitment and retention.
“To be able to retain staff and recruit more staff, people who are considering coming into this profession, but being concerned about raising a family and having a family with access to childcare, this is a game changer," Martinez said.
Deputy Psomas is hoping he and his wife will soon be able to find an affordable childcare provider they trust, so his wife can follow her dreams and they'll no longer be a single-income family.
“This is not only a game changer for me and how work will be less, but a game changer for her and taking off some of the load for her so she can take a break. Because I know she needs it," Psomas said.
Child care is such a big issue for law enforcement that the San Diego Police Department broke ground last month on the nation's first childcare center for its officers.
Sheriff Martinez said her department considered that, but it wasn't feasible considering their coverage area and many of their employees live in other counties.
