Flowery Branch cops starting pay increases to $50K. Here are other agencies looking at pay bumps

Flowery Branch cops starting pay increases to $50K. Here are other agencies looking at pay bumps

Gainesville Police

Gainesville Police Chief Jay Parrish said the current job field for recruiting and hiring officers is different than he’s ever seen before.

Parrish currently has seven openings at the department at a starting pay of $21.22 per hour. Including holiday pay, the salary is $48,091.68. The agency has 102 total officer positions.

The police chief said law enforcement has been no different than any other business, where bosses are having to compete with pay and benefits for top talent.

“For previous generations, a career would be a career at the Gainesville Police Department,” Parrish said. “A career for a law enforcement officer today is a career in law enforcement. It could be 10 different agencies over that 25 or 30 years. “

Not all applicants are chasing dollar signs, as some agencies have tried to attract officers with covering family medical insurance while offering lower hourly wages, Parrish said.

Parrish said he was happy that Hulsey and the officers of the Flowery Branch Police Department “got what they deserved.”

“But at the same time, it does create work for us to analyze everything, see what we’re doing and make sure that we’re competitive and that we’re not losing officers or applicants to those other agencies,” Parrish said.

Parrish called the applicant pool “slim pickings,” especially for certified law enforcement officers who are tending to remain at their current agencies.

Beyond just law enforcement, he has also noticed a trend of job-seekers not responding after putting in an application.

“They’ll turn in an application and then when we try to contact them to begin that follow up process, they don’t respond,” Parrish said. “They don’t call back. They don’t answer the phone. They don’t show up for interviews.”

Parrish estimated roughly 65% ​​of applicants don’t respond after turning in application, a phenomenon for which he has no definite cause.

Regarding any potential pay increase, Parrish said the city is in budget season.

“(City Manager Bryan) Lackey and I have had several conversations about compensation and what that should look like,” Parrish said.

Hall County Sheriff’s Office

Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch said the current job market for law enforcement is “the most competitive time that I’ve ever seen in hiring new officers.”

“You have to stay competitive, or the other agencies will have to follow suit in my opinion,” Couch said.

The Sheriff’s Office currently has 44 openings for deputies, which include jobs as investigator, sergeant and lieutenant, as well as 25 openings for jailers.

The current starting pay for a deputy is $22.90 per hour, while the starting pay for a jailer is $21.87 per hour.

Couch said the county is currently undergoing a pay compression study that he hopes will lead to some pay raises for his officers. Pay compression happens when there is little difference in salary for employees despite disparities in experience or seniority.

Couch said the department revamped its hiring processes last summer, using a four-person team in recruitment and background investigation to expedite getting qualified people onboard.

“We’ve actually been quite successful,” Couch said. “We’re hiring at least three to four people almost every pay period.”

The new hires are a medley: veteran officers from other agencies, people leaving the military and some recent college graduates.

Oakwood Police

Oakwood Police Chief Tim Hatch said he doesn’t feel like there is “any imperative about keeping up with the Joneses.”

Hatch said he feels the city has a “really competitive benefits package.” The city covers insurance and retirement.

“We can get away with a lower starting salary and still be competitive because the employees are not paying out the kind of benefits money that other agencies would have to pay out for things like insurance or retirement or other things like that,” Hatch said. “Until I saw an apples-to-apples comparison, I wouldn’t even begin to tell you how the city of Oakwood stacks up with them.”

Hatch said he has wiggle room to negotiate based on experience and other factors, but the entry level pay with no experience is $35,402. There are three open positions.

The post Flowery Branch cops starting pay increases to $50K. Here are other agencies looking at pay bumps first appeared on Daily Florida Press.

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