SAN ANTONIO — In elementary school, Kaylee Llamas knew she wanted to be in law enforcement. By middle school, the 19-year-old honed her focus.
"I've always said I want to be a criminal investigator," Llamas said.
But she didn't think the path to working in law enforcement would happen until her mid-20s.
Then, her middle sister Amanda shockingly ignited the Laredo native.
"It was all so inspirational that that happened," Llamas said.
Amanda, 27, like her sister, saw law enforcement as a career option. While en route for a qualifying test with the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, a drunk driver hit Amanda and a friend.
Sheriff Javier Salazar visited the peace officer prospect in the hospital. Amanda went on to get the job.
"Seeing her motivated, I was like, 'If she could do it, then so can I," Kaylee Llamas said.
Two weeks into the latest Bexar County Academy, she's one of the hopefuls the sheriff hopes will help fix a layered problem—one that's affecting retention rates, retiring deputies, an ailing jail population and jail operations in COVID-19-conducive conditions.
Mandatory overtime for detention officers got nearly $4 million from Bexar County commissioners who would rather innovative solutions instead of funding requests.
"What drives overtime to a large extent is not just COVID. We're dealing with a sicker inmate population," he said.
More deputies or detention officers have to accompany ailing inmates to the hospital. And, Salazar said he must place someone in their shoes in the detention center.
"From the law enforcement perspective, hiring was already a challenge pre-COVID," Salazar said.
BCSO, like other agencies, the sheriff said, is experiencing retention issues.
"Recruitment and retention in the age of the millennial police officer is already difficult," he said. "Kids are not storming our doors to become law enforcement officers."
Part of the problem is pay. The other portion is the younger workforce continues to look for a workplace to accommodate their lives.
Salazar is hosting his first post-pandemic career fair Saturday at the Tri-Point YMCA from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. More than 140 positions are up for grabs, but he'd like to line 200 candidates up.
"We're trying to be imaginative in how we recruit and retain people," he said.
Salazar says he wants to go after Boomers to fill jobs too, pointing to Mark Rodrigue as an example. Rodrigue was 59 years old when he joined BCSO after a conversation with Salazar at the gym.
The sheriff believes he can use that experience to mentor deputies and possibly move the younger workforce to other positions.
Llamas is one of those people. She is one of 18 cadets who hopes to begin working in the jail in September, where she would join her sister.