A quick survey of police officer salaries in rural Southwest Georgia found that some officers were initially making $12.70 an hour, providing further insight into why so many local law enforcement agencies are struggling to hire new staff and veteran officers in the field to keep staff.
At a fall meeting, a panel of state legislators, police chiefs, sheriffs and state law enforcement officials discussed the pressing challenges facing their profession as Georgia ranks at the bottom end of the nation in terms of average law enforcement pay. The report by the House Study Committee on State and Local Law Enforcements Salaries could become the lynchpin for new legislation once lawmakers return next Monday, after the committee signed into law recommendations giving local officials access to a statewide pension plan that grants income tax breaks and City and City are encouraging district leaders to introduce a minimum salary of $56,000 to match the national average.
For comparison, the average salary in rural Southwest Georgia is about $35,000 per year.
In addition to a pay rise from local departments, the Studies Committee is recommending that the University System of Georgia Board of Regents consider creating a law enforcement bachelor’s degree and streamline the transfer of credits earned at police academies.
It is up to city and county officials to determine how much money officers and other public safety officials make when they work in local jurisdictions. But the state can provide incentives like it did in 2021, with $1,000 in one-time bonuses for nearly 81,000 police officers, firefighters and other emergency responders and another bonus last year distributed from federal funds for pandemic relief.
Committee chair Mike Cheokas, an Americus Republican, said he hopes the report will lead to more ideas on how to resolve salaries at the state and local levels.
“Our study committee wanted to address issues and what you face every day and how we can create career opportunities for our young people and also motivate them to stay because it’s a grueling and dangerous job,” Cheokas said.
“We were hoping to continue the conversation by getting the ball rolling, shedding some light on it,” Cheokas said.
Brett Murray, who directs Southwest Georgia Technical College’s Law Enforcement Academy, said police shortages pose a particular management challenge in rural communities that don’t have the same resources as state agencies, or in larger metropolitan areas that do can often offer more money and better services.
Although state legislatures cannot directly influence the salaries paid in places like Jackson and Americus, there are other methods of hiring and retaining public officials, including bonuses, funding for professional development, and empowering public safety workers being covered by the same retirement plan would allow them to be hired by another agency without being penalized.
“There are places in South Georgia where the bean plant pays more than a police officer,” Murray said at a September committee meeting in Americus.
“We need applicants in Lumpkin, Georgia, in Webster County, Georgia,” Murray said. “We are losing the five to 15-year-old officers quickly. They are the bread and butter, they are the senior officers who protect our communities and they are the next line of supervisors and managers.”
MPs and officials to patrol the streets, work in detention centers and perform other duties are also in short supply in Georgia’s larger cities as violent crime rates have skyrocketed. With 23% job openings at the Chatham County Police Department last year, some investigations have slowed while the Atlanta Police Department launched a campaign to hire 250 officers.
And as the Cobb County Police Department struggles to fill about 100 positions, it has been among the suburban agencies offering better wages and benefits, rather than just recruiting at job fairs and posting more ads.
Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat suggested at a committee meeting last month that Georgia should consider emulating states like Florida, where employees can earn interest on their monthly retirement benefits and have the option of receiving a lump sum payment or in one to switch to another plan.
Adding local law enforcement officials to a statewide pension plan would take two years and require an actuarial study before legislation could be passed. Other law enforcement-focused bills could become law in the upcoming session after going through the Public Safety Committee and both chambers.
