Equal Employment Opportunity Plan
POLICY STATEMENT
It is the policy of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office to adhere to equal employment opportunity as a basic
element of human resources management. Discrimination in a personnel action on a basis unrelated to the job
is prohibited. Employment and promotion decisions will be made in accordance with the principles of equal
employment opportunity. The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office conforms to all applicable state and federal laws
prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, marital status, physical
or mental disability, family relationship and other protected-class statuses.
It is the policy of this Office to provide any employee or applicant for employment a means to file a written
complaint alleging discrimination or unlawful employment practice or violation of equal employment opportunity
with the Director of the County's Human Resources
Department, who will investigate the complaint. Resolution of a complaint may include discipline for any
employee who fails to comply with this policy.
UTILIZATION NARRATIVE
Approximately 95 people are employed by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. This number is just above
the minimum necessary to conduct an Equal Employment Opportunity Plan (EEOP). With this relatively small
group, a number of practical problems are presented in analyzing and applying EEOP data. For example,
a number of applicable job categories include only one or two employees. Therefore, a change in the EEOP
status of even a single employee can have dramatic effects on the reflected EEOP data, and therefore be
quite misleading. However, since most of the employees of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office are sworn law
enforcement officers and administrators, analysis and application of EEOP data with these limitations and
practicalities in mind can yield valid and highly informative results:
(a) Minorities: Community labor statistics for the 1990 Census indicate no underutilization of minorities in any applicable job category.
However, community labor statistics from the 2000 Census, and generally recognized demographic data for Lincoln County, indicate two minority groups statistical significance: Hispanic and Native American. This makes sense, when one considers that Lincoln County is the home of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and has also experienced a recent influx of Hispanic persons.
Using 2000 Census data, the extent of underutilization is minimal, based on the size of Sheriff's Office and the applicable job categories. Thus, the addition to the Sheriff's Office of a single sworn officer from each of these two minority groups would nearly eliminate any possible underutilization using 2000 Census data, and the addition of two sworn officers from each of these two minority groups would far exceed any underutilization using 2000 Census data.
Some additional complicating factors are these: (1) Community labor statistics, Native American individuals, and society in general, may fail to adequately reflect the full extent of the Native American labor force, in light of dilution of some Native American blood lines through the generations; (2) Some of the deficiency described in (1) may be relieved, to an unknown degree, by more recent trends supporting Native American pride of heritage, the restoration of federal recognition of the Siletz Tribe, and the extension of Tribal membership status to persons with more diluted Native American blood lines; and (3) Community labor statistics fail to adequately keep up with the ever expanding Hispanic population in Lincoln County.
Other factors not directly required by the EEOP process suggest additional benefits to the Sheriff's Office that could be achieved through the addition of Native American and Hispanic sworn law enforcement officers, including: Expanding the understanding and responsiveness of law enforcement to important cultural and historic traditions; expanding the use of culturally based law enforcement resources, such as Tribal Court, Tribal Council, and Tribal Elders; and expanding the incidence of bilingual law enforcement officers.
(b) Women: Application of community labor statistics to the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office indicates no underutilization of women in any of the primary job categories associated with the Sheriff's Office. For example, the data in fact suggest an overutilization of women in the Sheriff's Office in both the sworn law enforcement officer category, and in the sworn law enforcement administrators category. However, this is based on community labor statistics that indicate suppressed numbers in these categories, likely due to less interest reflected by women in selecting these career choices. This ultimately may reflect the pressures and dynamics of our society. Changing these pressures and dynamics, and changing law enforcement culture to encourage selection of a law enforcement career by women, can directly benefit agencies and society by expanding the role of women in law enforcement.
OBJECTIVES
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office is committed to enhancing the opportunity for minorities in its workforce demographics, and also continuing to encourage the expanded presence and role of women in its workforce. Based on the results of the EEOP analysis, the Sheriff's Office has established the following objectives:
It is the objective of the Sheriff's Office to attract more diversity in its sworn law enforcement positions, as well as non-sworn positions.
The Sheriff's Office also encourages more diversity in those serving as reserve sheriff deputies, a volunteer position that provides persons with exposure to law enforcement duties, and often forms a pool for selection of future deputies.
STEPS TO ACHIEVE OBJECTIVES
- Encourage minority youth and young women in the community to consider and select a career with a law enforcement agency, such as the Sheriff's Office.
- Train interviewers in appropriate selection procedures, and advise them of this EEOP.
- Provide training and education to Sheriff's Office supervisors and managers on employment issues related to diversity and discrimination.
- Encourage minorities and women to take advantage of training opportunities that would increase their competitiveness in qualifying exams and promotional opportunities.
- Encourage minorities and women to become reserve sheriff deputies.
DISSEMINATION
- Continue to include the equal employment opportunity statement on all job applications, postings, and the County's Human Resources Department web site.
- Post this EEOP on the Sheriff's Office web site.
- Continue to train new employees on the County's policies and procedures for filing and resolving complaints of discrimination or harassment.
- Train all supervisory staff on personnel and anti-discrimination laws, requirements, and objectives.
Dennis L. Dotson
Lincoln County Sheriff
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