The Mount Airy Police Department hasn’t been at full strength in about three years, and presently has five vacancies as department leaders continuously struggle to keep officers on the streets.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that a new recruitment program is being proposed which would provide incentives to attract qualified applicants, including paying for their Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET), and then retain them as members of the force.
“We’ve been challenged by recruitment and retention for some time,” City Manager Barbara Jones said Thursday when unveiling the new program along with Police Chief Dale Watson.
“Recruiting has been a constant concern with us,” agreed Watson, whose force has 41 sworn officers when at full capacity.
Up to now, the city police department has relied on students from the Basic Law Enforcement Training program of Surry Community College, which most recently turned out 20 graduates.
However, this has proven to be inadequate, due to a combination of factors. For one thing, would-be officers who pass initial screening and complete the BLET program before joining the force sometimes don’t work out for one reason or another, as it’s difficult to gauge someone’s job performance before they actually start work.
Then once hitting the streets, some rookie officers also realize that police work is not for them, while others might simply leave for positions elsewhere offering a higher salary. The starting pay for a Mount Airy officer is slightly more than $29,000 per year.
“Plus, we don’t have a big enough pool to recruit from,” Watson said of the number of local BLET grads, for which there is competition from other law enforcement agencies in this area. It further is difficult to seek BLET students in other counties, since members of agencies there also teach the classes and have an inside track on recruitment.
Another factor is that enrolling in the BLET program can prove problematic in itself. In order to undergo the demanding firearms and other training involved, a student might have to quit his or her day job and work at night while also attending classes during the daytime.
“It’s just not user-friendly,” Chief Watson said of demands of the BLET program, the next session of which begins on Jan. 23 and will run to June 16.
Incentive solution
“The chief and his team have come up with a good idea for recruitment,” the city manager said of the plan to incentivize police hiring.
“We know there’s a good pool of applicants within our community,” Watson said. “But we need a way to tap into that talent, so to speak.”
Based on comments from would-be applicants who have told him they’d like to join the force but can’t deal with the BLET’s logistical issues, Watson thinks the incentive program could address all contingencies.
It would involve individuals going through the same screening and hiring process now in place, which requires passing a background check, psychological evaluation and other preliminary procedures.
Under the proposed incentive program to increase the ranks of recruits, those successfully clearing this process would receive a conditional offer of employment and be required to sign a training agreement.
Recruits would have the status of a temporary city employee while they are enrolled in the Basic Law Enforcement Training program. They includes receiving a stipend every two weeks based on a pay rate of $12.10 per hour and 80 hours of training.
In addition, the municipality would pay the BLET costs of around $900. The total expense of the program per employee would be $10,580, according to information provided by Watson. Under the plan, money to cover the incentive package is to come from vacant patrol positions and not put any additional strain on the police budget.
The training agreement would contractually obligate the employee to work for the city of Mount Airy for two years while receiving additional instruction.
During that time, the new officer could fail to meet departmental policies and procedures and be terminated, or might resign. In that case, the person would reimburse the city for training costs, a sum of $1,500.
“So it should be a good trial run for them (police recruits) and for us,” the city manager said of that initial employment period.
Watson said the same type of incentive initiative is being used successfully in other jurisdictions such as High Point, Graham, Burlington and Roxboro.
In order to be implemented, the new plan must be approved by the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners. The matter will be on the agenda for the board’s next meeting on Thursday, Jones said.
Tom Joyce may be reached at 336-415-4693 or on Twitter @Me_Reporter.
