By Fraley Williams
Lexington Police Officers received a 5% salary raise in July, following a combined 17% raise over the previous two years.
Police Chief Angela Greene said the raises helped recruit and retain more officers after a few years of vacancies. The department has taken other steps to address the shortage of officers. For instance, new officers get signing bonuses and cadets help ease the workload and long hours. The department even lifted its no-tattoo policy to attract more officers to the force.
“We did a study and it showed that the Lexington Police Department was one of the lowest paid in the region,” said Greene, who joined the department in 2021. “About half of our department was being paid less than $40,000.”
Pay isn’t the only issue. “It’s hard to find people who want to be in law enforcement,” City Manager Jim Halasz said.
A national backlash against police brutality after George Floyd’s death in 2020 made it difficult to attract new recruits. According to the Police Executive Research Forum, an independent research organization, there were 47% more resignations in 2022 compared to 2019. In addition, more police retired.
“There was already a very low applicant pool of individuals that wanted to be police officers and it was imperative of us to retain the officers,” Greene said. “We had to make sure the officers were not getting burnt out because of the low staffing and overtime.”
Col. Shain Hartbarger said that the department was affected by what was happening nationally. All law enforcement agencies were “a lot more scrutinized.”
Too much overtime was a challenge when the department was understaffed, so the department started a cadet program. Students from Virginia Military Institute, Washington and Lee University and Mountain Gateway Community College work part-time in code enforcement and special events, which gives officers much needed time off.
“We had to make sure the officers were not getting burnt out because of the low staffing and overtime.” – Police Chief Angela Greene
The department has also added perks, such as more training and allowing officers to take home squad cars. The department also lifted its ban on beards, too.
“People want to feel like they are valued and appreciated in the department for who they are,” Greene said.
The department also gave sign-on bonuses ranging from $1,500 to $5,000. Greene said that officers also got $1,250 referral bonuses if they brought in new certified officers to the department. The department’s website advertises the bonuses to continue to attract applicants.
Having more help means the department could add more specialized units and a K-9 unit for drug investigations.