Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper warned that a proposed $14 million cut to his office could remove more than 50 deputies from patrol and slow response times, escalating a budget dispute with county leaders. The alert, posted on social media early Wednesday, prompted residents and officials to review county budget documents to see which programs and positions might be affected.
Sacramento County officials are proposing a $14 million cut to the Sheriff’s Office budget, a decision that would directly remove more than 50 Deputies from our streets, impacting our response time when you pick up the phone calling for help. Sheriff patrols are already almost… pic.twitter.com/G4qku9NhIf
— Jim Cooper (@SheriffJCooper) February 11, 2026
Sheriff’s Office Sounds Off On Social Media
On X, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office amplified a message from Sheriff Jim Cooper that claimed county officials are preparing a $14 million cut to the department. According to the Sheriff Jim Cooper on his X account, the proposal “would directly remove more than 50 deputies from our streets” and would affect 911 response times countywide. The post also shared the department’s non-emergency phone number for residents looking for more details or wanting to weigh in.
County Budget Math Tells A Different Story
County budget materials from the Recommended Budget hearings paint a more complicated picture. Sacramento County lists a $9.6 million reduction in total appropriations for the Sheriff’s Office and the deletion of 28 full-time equivalent positions, with $7.4 million of that counted as Net County Cost. Officials describe those changes as part of a broader $14 million in “other reductions” needed to balance discretionary resources, according to Sacramento County.
Past Fights Over Programs And Patrols
When supervisors first took up the Recommended Budget in June, they moved to restore some proposed cuts to public safety programs and pushed back on plans to eliminate community policing units and youth services, according to earlier reporting. The Sacramento Observer detailed a tense back-and-forth between Sheriff Cooper and Supervisor Phil Serna over how much to prioritize military-grade equipment compared with youth programs as the board tried to sort out public safety funding…