Area police agencies make a dent in shortages

Blue lines are growing in Horry County as some area agencies have been steadily increasing their numbers after struggling with shortages.

A mixture of variables, such as officers retiring, national scrutiny, frustrated officers leaving and a new generation’s general disinterest in the field, have created a nationwide problem that also hits home in Horry County, officials have said.

During August, Horry County police were facing a vacancy of about 23 or so with only 11 future officers in training, but that number has since been whittled down to about six expected, according to new Horry County Police Chief Joseph Hill, who took helm in late September.

On Wednesday, 10 Horry County Police Department officers will be sworn in, ready to begin serving the community. Nine of those new officers were brought on board thanks to a $1,000 incentive plan posed to Horry County council by Interim Chief Lance Winburn prior to Hill’s arrival.

Hill said the department was able to make a dent in their number of vacancies by offering the incentives to the already state certified officers from other agencies and the existing officers who recommended them.

Hill stressed that while there was a need to fill positions, the department was still very selective and careful about whom they chose to carry an Horry County badge.

Myrtle Beach police have struggled with shortages as well while their once-swollen pool of hundreds of applicants shrank to just double digits last year. After wielding various recruitment tools and tactics and offering incentives, the department is only looking at about eight sworn officer vacancies, according to spokesman Lt. Joey Crosby with Myrtle Beach police.

Crosby said interest in jobs in law enforcement moves in waves. He said they were flooded with applicants during the recession, but have since seen lower numbers due to a combination of factors as they too battle the national problem.

Crosby said he was very pleased with the progress their recruitment officer is making, and the department is going to continue to recruit until they’re fully staffed.

“I think you’re not really satisfied until you achieve your goal of being fully staffed because you want to be able to have those officers on the roadway to be visible,” he said.

Conway Police Department also has seen a shrinkage in manpower and is facing a shortage of about eight officers, said Lt. Selena Small with Conway Police.

Small said she thought that the root of the issue for them was officers leaving for more competitive pay elsewhere, and new officers sometimes coming in and becoming disenchanted with the role once the realities of the on-the-job stress sets in.

She said while they have felt the strain of those the shortages, they’ve been fortunate to have officers willing to ride out the storm who are dedicated to their community and to delivering the same level of service.

“They are so dedicated that they care about the community they serve and that’s what’s critical is to retain those types of employees who truly love the community they serve enough that even when they’re put under pressure that they could easily go somewhere else they don’t, because they love where they work and they love the community,” said Small.

Pat Dowling, spokesman for the city of North Myrtle Beach, said the city is not facing a public safety staffing shortage and doesn’t have trouble attracting qualified applicants.

“When we announce a position opening, we regularly receive 200-plus applications,” Dowling said who added they have heard applicants view them as progressive and are drawn to their college tuition reimbursement program.

Starting pay for new North Myrtle Beach police officers is $41,096, said Dowling, who added all North Myrtle Beach public safety personnel are cross-trained.

“A Public Safety Officer is required to maintain the certifications of an N.F.P.A. Class 1 Firefighter, and a South Carolina Class 1 Police Officer,” Dowling said. “A Firefighter/EMT is required to maintain the certifications of an N.F.P.A. Class 1and Class 2 Firefighter, a nationally registered Emergency Medical Technician, and a South Carolina Class 3 Police Officer.”

Currently, North Myrtle Beach police has seven open positions as two officers recently medically retired, one resigned, and the department just received a Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services hiring grant for four more positions, Dowling said.

Excluding the four grant-created positions, North Myrtle Beach police are three officers down and will fill them as soon as possible, according to Dowling.

The academy

A primary hurdle to putting new officers on the streets is a lack of available slots at the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy, Dowling said.

The next academy course isn’t available until March 2017, he added, meaning their new personnel won’t be carrying badges until late winter or early spring.

“The S.C. Criminal Justice Academy in Columbia is the only police academy for the entire state,” Dowling said in an email. “If we had a police academy here along the Grand Strand area, we could easily bring new officers on board more quickly.”

Chief Hill also expressed a desire for an alternative to the singular state academy and said he’d like to see a regional academy with around 10 agencies, pooling to send about one or two personnel and funding.

“That way we could have more trained officers on the street quicker,” he said.

Hill is proud of the staff they have and said thorough background checks are done, but he said the department will now be digging a bit deeper when hiring by going off applications and into neighborhoods to speak with neighbors and family and more people they can find of those not listed as references.

Hill also has a polygrapher on his wish list down the road to screen potential applicants.

FOP

While the HCPD has been bringing new officers in, the Fraternal Order of Police Coastal Carolina Lodge 12 has been vocal in the past, stating that the department has become a revolving door as officers leave for better pay at neighboring agencies.

K.C. Canterbury, president of that FOP Lodge 12, said that while no one gets into law enforcement to get rich, some officers have families to support. So if they can make more at another agency, it entices them.

He said the vacancies once led to slower response times as officers struggled to deal with the number of calls for service.

“I know that the county police has been hiring constantly, which is a good thing. It’s filling those empty holes, but I don’t know that it’s fixing the problem,” Canterbury said.

An uncertified officer starts at $35,126.00 and a certified officer starts at $36,882.30, according to Lisa Bourcier, Horry County spokeswoman. Canterbury said a big issue wasn’t so much with the starting pay as it was with pay increases not being given to more seasoned officers.

“I believe you’re still going to have officers leaving due to the disparity in pay, not so much as the starting pay as the problem, but the pay of the officer who has been with the county five or six years basically making the same thing as a brand new person,” said Canterbury.

Canterbury said he knows the issues are not overnight fixes, but said the problem needs to be addressed.

“Something’s going to need to be done or they’re going to continue to have that revolving door and their seasoned officer is going to continue to leave and go elsewhere,” he said.

Hill said he was aware of that issue and is working to address it.

Canterbury said an email was sent to council members in July from his father, Chuck Canterbury who lives in Horry County and is president of the National Fraternal Order of Police. The email laid out problems Horry County officers were struggling with, such as the shortages, lack of raises for seasoned officers, and higher amounts officers had to pay retirement contributions, and K.C. Canterbury said they still had not heard a response back and expressed frustration.

Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus said while he hasn’t communicated with the group directly, they’ve addressed those issues at their public safety committee meetings.

“We’ve been very responsive to the issues that they’ve brought to our attention,” Lazarus said. “I may not be responding directly to them, but we have responded in our open sessions at our public safety committee meetings and in our actions that we’ve taken.”

He said the group has the option to sign up for public input at the public safety committee meetings just as anyone else can; however, Canterbury said it can be difficult for officers to attend given their schedules.

Lazarus said each year over the past years he’s chaired council, police have steadily gotten raises, and said they have worked to increase benefits too, and also pointed to other perks he said officers have, such as merit increases and take-home cars, saying they have closed the gap on pay discrepancies that way.

Lazarus said he was proud of the “aggressive” and “progressive” work the council has done.

“We’re doing a lot of things internally to save dollars that we can put back into the hands of all our employees in Horry County,” he said.

K.C. Canterbury said while officers have been given raises over the years, they’ve also seen increases and cutbacks in other areas, such as the way they accrue sick and vacation time and higher contributions into retirement.

Lazarus said he felt he had a good relationship with the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police and said it was the job of those in charge within that group to push for more for their members.

But K.C. Canterbury said he was frustrated by a lack of communication.

“I have a job and the county council has a job to represent the citizens of Horry County to tax everybody fairly and not overburden our citizens, yet provide service that we need, and I think our men and women that are out there now are doing extremely well,” said Lazarus of the current HCPD.

“They’re very dedicated individuals. I’m very proud of them, and we look forward to continue to work with them to make it even better for them,” he said.

Hill said there was work to be done on salary, especially adjusting the pay scale for officers who continue with the agency. He said public safety should be on a different pay scale than other county employees and that pay increases should be given as officers hit certain yearly marks.

He is working with council on the issues, but also stressed the department has a lot to offer currently.

“We have equipment. We have training. We have a sense of family in Horry County that would make you want to come here and stay here,” he said.

Hill also said he plans to implement a new award system next year where officers will sport ribbons on their chests for merits like, life-saving, valor and education.

“I can’t pay them more money right now,” Hill said, “but I can recognize them for the things they do, and they can display that proudly on their chests and that also goes into the whole mindset that we are community guardians, and we are expected to perform with the utmost professionalism.”

This story was originally published October 22, 2016 at 6:21 PM with the headline "Area police agencies make a dent in shortages."