No residency rule could help beef up number of police
By anthony warren
Senior Staff Writer
One solution to the Jackson Police Department’s (JPD) staffing woes could be found in the repeal of the city’s residency ordinance, according to Police Chief Lee Vance.
Vance recently told the city council that the department’s loss of officers had almost put JPD in crisis mode, and that one way to increase the city’s chances of bringing on officers from other departments could be loosening the city’s hiring restrictions.
“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 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.”
In August, the department had 373 officers, down from 383 the month before. The department ended fiscal year 2016 with 440 officers, meaning JPD has continued to hemorrhage employees in the months since.
Vance said the department’s woes stem from its low pay and from a restrictive ordinance requiring all new hires to live in the city limits or move to Jackson within 12 months.
Vance and Deputy Chief Joseph Wade said the city has a tough time recruiting officers from other departments, because the low pay wouldn’t justify officers moving to Jackson.
Additionally, the ordinance limits the pool of applicants JPD can draw from.
“My main concern centers around having a qualified pool of applicants,” Vance said. “We found that limiting the pool to Jackson is counter-productive. We need qualified applicants, whether they live in Jackson or not.”
The residency ordinance was passed by the city council in 2014. Provisions require all residents being hired for jobs to live in the capital city. If a sufficient number of applicants cannot be found, a department can request permission from the administration to hire someone from outside the city. That hire, though, would be required to move into the city within 12 months.
The ordinance was approved unanimously. Ward One Councilman Ashby Foote and Ward Seven Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay were not in office at the time.
The department likely has had to seek a number of waivers. One year after the ordinance was passed, JPD had more than 1,000 applicants. However, only 40 qualified to go into the Jackson Police Training Academy, Vance said.
The department also has had trouble bringing in officers from other municipalities.
“A lot of people are not going to relocate if they (have to relocate) from Vicksburg, Shreveport, North Mississippi – we don’t pay them enough to relocate,” Wade told the council during the police department’s budget hearing.
Cities like Shreveport pay significantly more for police. In Jackson, starting pay for recruits is $25,900 a year. After one year, salary is increased to around $31,000.
Officers in Shreveport earn $33,000 in the first year, according to the city’s Web site.
“We’ve lost people to Baptist Hospital because they pay more for security than we can pay them,” Vance told the council.
Dallas, which is also cited by the department as a major competitor for officers, pay around $50,000 a year, Vance said. However, he noted that the cost of living in the city of 1.3 million also is higher.
Average rental prices in Dallas for 900 square feet, range from $1,310 to $1,562, compared to $909 to $1,375 for the same square footage in Jackson, according to Expatistan.com, an online cost of living calculator.
Based on those numbers, the increased rent costs alone would be between $2,200 and $4,100 annually.
Council members and Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba are considering modifying or repealing the ordinance, and will likely begin discussing it after the budget passes.
The 2018 budget was passed on September 12. No raises for the department were included.
Foote and Lindsay say they will support repealing the ordinance. Lumumba also is open to changing the ordinance and is discussing it with other city leaders, said Communications Manager Kai Williams.
Ward Two Councilman Melvin Priester, the council vice-president, supported the passage of the original ordinance. He reluctantly supports modifying it in the wake of JPD’s staffing shortage.
“We are constantly asking Jacksonians to shop local because it helps our economy and gives us a tax base to take care of city (business),” he said. “Hiring local is the city’s equivalent. There are real benefits to making sure people who work in the city also live in the city. It strengthens your community when the beat officer is your neighbor.”
