SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The San Diego Sheriff's Department recently changed its name to the Sheriff's Office, but that one-word change is not cheap.
Team 10 senior investigator Jim Avila took a closer look at a sliver of the price tag.
The name change became official on Sept. 10. Although it's a seemingly small change, which we first reported last month, it means a lot to Sheriff Kelly Martinez.
"I do think it's important. I think there's value in identifying appropriately as an office," she says. "Every other elected official in this county is referred to as an office. I think the sheriff should be the same."
As Martinez referenced, she is an independent elected officer and wants the signs on the windows of the agency's buildings to reflect that.
The name change comes with a six-figure price tag. Team 10 first asked the sheriff the total cost of the department to office shift, and frankly, she did not know.
"Is this an expensive proposition for a little benefit?" Avila asked.
"Yeah. So, I completely understand the concern. And we're being very careful about and judicious about how we spend money," Martinez replied. "My budget is limited. It's a large budget, but we have a large responsibility."
She is right: The sheriff's budget is $1.2 billion, and the agency has 4,000 employees. Sheriff Martinez claimed not to know the real price of the change, so we followed through.
Team 10 requested the information through the California Public Records Act. We have yet to receive a full response on all costs; however, for the badges alone, 1,013 new sterling silver-coated shields cost $206 each.
The total cost of the badges was $214,000, less than 1% of the massive cost of protecting San Diego County.
There are more charges to come: Signs, banners, flags and some uniforms will be changed. Also down the pike are office supplies, from letterheads to business cards, which the sheriff says are being phased out and replaced by digital cards.
The patrol cars don't say sheriff's department, just sheriff, so no change is necessary on that front.
"Honestly, a lot of things we don't have to change. Our patches do not say department. So things like that... I think it's going to be less than we anticipate," Martinez says.
In the world of government, six figures isn't much, but in the world of taxpayers, it might be.
