VISTA —— Sheriff's Department officials said Tuesday there's no easy solution to the uneven distribution of Spanish-speaking sheriff's deputies working in San Diego County cities.

Vista's population is about 40 percent Latino, and it has just one recently added bilingual trainee on patrol. The cities of Imperial Beach and Lemon Grove have similar Latino populations, but have far more Spanish-speaking deputies, a disparity that Sheriff's Department officials said they are trying to correct.

But it's quite complicated to try to equalize the number of Spanish-speaking deputies in each community that needs them, officials said. Among the many obstacles, they said, are that an opening must exist, deputies must want to transfer, and must qualify for the position based on seniority, rotation and merit.

Officials say they are looking for ways to get bilingual deputies to work in the cities where they are most needed, but in the meantime, there's not much they can do.

"We are dedicated to finding a set of incentives that will make bilingual assignments attractive," said sheriff's Capt. Glenn Revell. "At present it's very difficult, and this is just one more labor management matter we have to contend with."

Also among the difficulties, Revel said, are low bilingual pay and a promotional structure that can transfer Spanish-speakers from one area to another as they move up the ranks. Presently, the department pays bilingual deputies an additional 40 cents an hour, officials said.

Revell also noted that the spiraling cost of gasoline led has some Spanish-speaking deputies to forgo the small bilingual stipend in favor of a shorter commute.

"With the very modest premium paid to bilingual staff, many of the deputies would rather let that go and work closer to where they live, because it will save them money," said Revell.

The Vista Sheriff's Station has been criticized for a lack of deputies who speak Spanish. City officials have said they want to mandate a set number of bilingual deputies on patrol.

The nine cities that contract with the Sheriff's Department for law enforcement —— Del Mar, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, Lemon Grove, Poway, San Marcos, Santee, Solana Beach and Vista —— negotiate with the department as a bloc. So, no single city can demand a specific percentage of bilingual deputies without granting the same to other cities, officials said.

More than 40 percent of Vista's 95,500 residents are Latino. But not one of the 49 deputies patrolling the city's streets speaks fluent Spanish, officials have said, though most officers have an elementary grasp of basic Spanish words and phrases.

The station's deputies patrol the 18.58 square miles in Vista and 18.9 square miles of adjacent unincorporated county land.

The Vista station has 13 other staffers who speak Spanish, including office workers, detectives and higher-ranking officers, and a patrol trainee who is fluent in Spanish was hired several weeks ago, said Lt. Hernando Torres.

"The majority of our Spanish speakers (in Vista) are in investigative positions, specialized jobs, and we can't just move a detective back to patrol because he's bilingual," said Capt. Rob Ahern of the Vista sheriff's station. "It would be grossly unfair to hold someone back or keep them in a position because they speak Spanish."

Capt. Octavia Parker of the Imperial Beach Sheriff's Station said at least 23 of the 46 patrol deputies assigned to Imperial Beach and the nearby unincorporated area speak Spanish, though not all are fluent.

"For the amount of area we have to cover, we are just blessed to have as many Spanish speakers as we do," Parker said.

The Imperial Beach deputies patrol the 4.4 square-mile city, and 44.67 square miles of adjacent county territory with a total of about 50,000 residents. Nearly 28,000 residents live in the city, and 12,000 residents are Latino —— about 42 percent of the city population —— according to the San Diego Association of Governments.

Capt. Al Guerin of the Lemon Grove Sheriff's Station said that nine of the station's 65 deputies speak Spanish, about 14 percent.

The city's approximate is about 32 percent Latino, according to SANDAG estimates. Lemon Grove deputies also patrol 107.5 square miles outside of the city, with an additional 109,000 residents.

Guerin faces losing one of Lemon Grove's bilingual deputies to a promotion in the next few weeks.

"It just a part of the growing process, people are always looking to advance their careers, and the openings might not be here, so they move around," Guerin said.

Departmentwide, the county had the resources to hire at least 150 deputies last fiscal year, but by the close of the fiscal year, had filled only about 100 of the positions, officials said.

"We're having a hard enough time filling vacancies, and with an added stipulation of speaking another language, we're down to almost nothing," Guerin said.

Still, Revell said, the department is keenly aware of the shortage of Spanish speakers and is trying to shuffle its resources.

"We're trying to make it so that bilingual deputies want to transfer where we need them," he said. "It's not easy, but we are committed to finding the right incentives."

Contact staff writer Anne Riley-Katz at 631-6622 or ariley-katz@nctimes.com.