Jackson’s police force continues to shrink, and one solution could be a pay raise, according to Police Chief Lee Vance.
However, Vance understands that 2018 likely will be a lean budget year, and knows that across-the-board raises for officers might not be a possibility.
The mayor and city council continued budget hearings last week, including hearings to discuss the budget for the Jackson Police Department (JPD).
Vance is asking for a 2.5 percent raise to help offset the dwindling force.
“We may not be a full-service police department if these shortages are not addressed immediately,” he told the council.
He said several officers in support roles have been moved to patrol to make up for the decline.
The department has 373 sworn officers, down from 383 in June.
“We had a DUI unit. We no longer have a DUI unit,” he said. “We had a quality of life unit. We had to shut that down and put those officers back on the street. We had a unit of bailiffs. We had eight in that unit, now we have four because we had to send those officers back to patrol.”
The chief credits the shortage, in part, to low officer pay.
Starting salary for recruits in Jackson is $25,900 a year during and right out of the Jackson Police Training Academy. After six months, pay is raised to $26,375; and after a year, salaries are increased to around $31,000.
For an officer with one year experience, a 2.5-percent raise would equate to about $775 a year.
Across-the-board increases would cost the city about $492,000, or about 1.3 percent of JPD’s proposed $36.9 million budget.
The department’s proposal also included funding for a 50-member recruit class, of which most of the funding would be reimbursed by the state.
“The state reimburses us for each recruit we train. (If) we were afforded the opportunity to train 50, the state will reimburse us with $180,000,” Deputy Chief Joseph Wade said.
To cut costs, recruits would not spend the night at the Jackson Police Training Academy, meaning there would be fewer expenses for meals.
“We would only have to feed them one meal a day – $7 or $8 per recruit (per) day,” he said.
Wade and Vance told the mayor and council that there is no evidence requiring recruits to stay overnight would affect recruits’ abilities to serve as officers.
“When Robert Johnson was the police chief, he was the first one to introduce the concept. As far as retention, being prepared, being qualified, there’s no difference in those (recruits) that go home or stay overnight,” Vance said.
Mayor Chokwe Lumumba is proposing a $35 million budget for the department, of which $33.8 million would come from the general fund.
His budget would include no raises for the department. However, he does agree that the department’s shortage must be addressed in “very short order.”
“The first thing we have to do is get rid of the furlough. We’re working our way up to being (able to) ultimately pay more money, but that’s not where we are today.”
Lumumba is proposing a two-mill property tax increase to offset what is expected to be a $4.39 million budget deficit.
About half of that deficit comes from ending the furlough, but it’s something Lumumba promised to do when running for office.
“We’re actually making the hole bigger by ending the furlough, but it’s bad for business, decreases morale, (and) gives the public a signal that we can’t make basic financial decisions,” Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Robert Blaine told the city council recently. “It’s the right thing (to do) to end the furlough.”
In addition to discussing pay, the council talked about other changes that could swell JPD’s ranks, including changing the city’s residency requirements.
Under the ordinance, new hires to the city are required to move to Jackson within six months after being hired.
Vance said officers from outside the area will not move to Jackson because of pay, meaning they cannot be hired under city code.
“We’ve lost people to Baptist Hospital, because they pay more for security than we can pay them,” he said.
Ward One Councilman Ashby Foote supports giving officers a pay raise and doing away with the residency ordinance.
He suggested repealing the ordinance during the hearing.
“The residency ordinance has got to go,” he said.
Ward Two Councilman Melvin Priester isn’t sure there’s enough money in next year’s budget for a raise. However, he does believe the city needs to look at its pay scale as a whole.
Even with a 2.5 percent increase, Jackson would lag behind cities of similar size in police pay.
In Mobile, officers earn $31,679 out of the academy, and $36,679 after six months; Shreveport officers earn $33,000 in the first year; and Birmingham officers with a high school diploma or equivalency earn $37,230 a year, according to each city’s Web site. Little Rock officers earn $40,821 during the academy and first year on the job, according to previous reports in the Sun.
Salaries, though, haven’t affected the department’s efforts to reduce crime. Said Vance, “Over the last three years, we’ve seen double-digit crime reductions. The numbers themselves don’t tell the entire story, but (they’re a mechanism) put in place to tell if our strategy is working … The only thing we need is an influx of resources.”
The budget must be voted on by September 15. It will take effect October 1.
