Countywide

Faced with an apparent shortage of guards for the county’s jails, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors Tuesday directed Sheriff John Duffy to draw up a plan to use newly hired police from the county’s municipalities to supplement the deputy sheriffs who man the jails.

At the urging of Chairman Brian Bilbray, the board also proposed that county officials contact city managers around the county to discuss the concept. Currently, the jails are manned by newly hired deputy sheriffs, who are given jail assignments for their first two years.

Under Bilbray’s proposal, each new police officer hired by a municipal police force would spend a prescribed period working in a county jail under the supervision of the Sheriff’s Department.

The supervisors directed that the sheriff report back to the board within 60 days.