Soperton City Council Considers Police Pay Raise to Fill Vacancies

Soperton Police Chief Brian Scott approached the Soperton City Council during their May 18 work session to propose an increase to local police salaries to alleviate vacancies in the department.

“We’ve got to do something to get folks in here,” said Scott.

According to Scott, the Soperton Police Department is currently equipped to staff six full-time officers, yet is currently staffing half that number, including himself and some part-time officers.

To fill those vacancies, Scott suggested the council could raise the base entry pay for new recruits from $20.70 per hour to $23.70 per hour. He also suggested a similar $3 increase to the salaries of existing officers.

According to Councilmember Andrew Simons, the city’s budget would have enough “flex” to accommodate these raises, likely for multiple years.

These salary increases are intended to keep the Soperton Police Department’s salaries competitive with other local communities, such as Mount Vernon and Dublin. According to Scott, the local applicant pool, which several departments are drawing from, is extremely limited.

“We’re kind of sandwiched between all these other places, and we’re paying well, but we’re not paying well enough to be competitive,” said Scott.

This limited pool has affected other local departments as well, as the Alamo Police Department has faced closure for several months due to staff shortages. The Alamo City Council also implemented a similar pay raise from $18 per hour to $20 per hour to attempt to solve the issue.

Rather than attracting applicants new to police work, Scott’s aim for the pay increase is to attract experienced officers, ideally with four years of experience, who would otherwise go to other departments. Focusing on officers with training means the Soperton Police Department can avoid sending new recruits to a police academy, which can take up to 20 weeks to complete.

“Soperton’s not a place for rookies,” said Scott. “It’s not a place for people straight out of the police academy. They’re setting them up for failure, and we’re diminishing the level of service we’re providing to the community.”

When asked about the department’s recruitment efforts, Scott said they primarily relied on social media posts and word-of-mouth, but that recruits were “not biting.” One concern among potential recruits is the already small size of the department, with Scott recounting worries that officers would have to work shifts completely alone.

Councilmember Xandra Brown  offered concerns regarding the sustainability of keeping the department’s salaries competitive, asking what Scott’s plans for future recruitment efforts looked like.

Councilmember Stephanie Blair suggested the department could begin a training program with the Treutlen County High School, which Scott referred to as an explorer program, to develop a homegrown applicant pool. However, while Scott approved of the idea, he said the department simply did not have the time nor manpower to run such a program.

“You’ve got to have the staffing to actually run that program,” said Scott. “Right now, we’re doing good to keep our head above the water.”

So, the department plans to use the same tactics as before – social media, newspaper advertisements and word-of-mouth – as they do not have the resources to attempt other methods. Scott is also unsure if the raise will directly lead to new recruits, but is confident the city’s budget would be unaffected by the change, as per Simon’s statement.

“If they come, great; if they don’t, we haven’t lost anything,” said Scott.

The Soperton City Council did not take any official action regarding the matter during their May 18 work session or regular meeting.