Sheriff Clarke calling back to duty 29 of 48 deputies laid off

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke says he is calling back to duty 29 of 48 deputies laid off by County Executive Chris Abele in early 2012.

In a news release issued Monday morning, September 10th, Sheriff Clarke said the County's Human Resources Department has been unable to hire qualified candidates to fill corrections officer positions created by the lay-offs. He says the department has only supplied 24 candidates to fill 60 positions.

Clarke says the deputies he is recalling are already trained and their jail certification is still valid.

“It is necessary to honor my sworn constitutional duty to maintain the running of the jail. I will not stand by and watch what I have determined to be an emergency employee safety and inmate safety situation turn into a crisis. I am going to act now to head it off," Sheriff Clarke said in a statement.

FOX6 News reached out to County Executive Chris Abele's office to get his reaction to Sheriff Clarke's actions.

Abele said in a statement: "The Milwaukee County Human Resources department has been working with the Sheriff's Office on recruiting and retaining Correctional Officers and they will continue that effort. It's important to note that in July the Sheriff received $1.2 million to hire 20 Deputies and just a few weeks ago 26 new Correctional Officers graduated and went to work."