The Santa Barbara County Deputy Sheriff's Association says it's been told that a new schedule for deputies now calls for 12 hour shifts over four days.
In a normal pay period, that adds up to 96 hours over two weeks, including 16 hours of mandatory scheduled overtime.
The Sheriff's department says it is fully responding to all calls and shifting deputies to the priorities. At times some areas, including contract cities, are not at the expected levels of service.
The process to fill vacancies can be slow.
With recruiting, hiring, and training South Coast Commander Kelly Moore says it could take a year to put a new deputy into the patrol rotation.
In June a new contract agreement was worked out with the county and the deputy sheriff's.
The mandatory overtime scheduling is expected to continue through Spring of 2017.
