Week5 discussion 2
Pay,Benefits, Pension Programs, and Effective Recruitment
In light of recent political andpublic fallout regarding labor unions, discuss the actual and potential effectson police pay, benefits, and pension programs within a selected state of yourchoice. Additionally, explain two (2) current factors affecting recruitment,hiring, or retention and describe how these evolving issues will impactrecruitment and hiring.
James wrote:
In the state of South Carolina oneof the main issues for officers is the pay. Most of officers in South Carolinastart their career making under thirty thousand dollars a year. You have a lotof officers in this state that will start for a department that does not paymuch and will get certified and leave for another department if offered moremoney. The retirement in South Carolina is not that bad. I have actually notheard many complaints about the retirement. Another thing officers in SouthCarolina seem to like is the insurance. Officers normally are given insurancefor free and only have to pay to add their family members. h The turn over rateis to high for police officers in South Carolina however. I feel as though thishas to due with money and staffing. In most departments they are short handedso officer’s back up could be a long ways away if you do not work within a cityor town. When it comes to recruitment I feel as though we need to be morestrenuous on the recruitment as far as psychological tests and backgroundchecks. We do need to find out what types of people that we are hiring for thisfield of work. In law enforcement you take an oath that a lot of officers endup messing up. We need to make sure that these officers are well prepared andhave the mindset to do this job. This would include a more in depth andstrenuous academy as well. The academy in South Carolina is 12 weeks and reallyis more focused on learning from literature and lectures. I feel as though toget a better group of officers we need to get more hands on with practical situationsand training.
I started but not sure how to finish
James: Excellent job on your discussion. Youare right when you say a police officer in South Carolina does not get paidthat much. In Rock Hill for instance a police officer makes “Salary: $36,691-$51,334Per Year (Actual starting salary commensurate with experience”(DepartmentJob Openings, 2012). That isn’t very much for a police officer as theyput their lives on the lines to protect us. My mom always said police and firefighters should never have there pay cut we need them in our communities. Ascited by police executives salary is the number one reason officers leave. Oneway of solving this issue would be to relay on wage increases, this would executive“to give a simple answer to a potentially complex issue without making any hardanalysis of the issues or conditions within their agencies.(Orrick, n.d.).Another good point you made was officers need a more in depth training academy.The recruitment and retention of police officers is every important and very challenging.The leaders in law enforcement need to address these concerns different manner.“This process will require a constant reviewof the labor market, compensation systems, leadership, recruiting techniques,supervision of recruiters, employer brands, leadership and operationalmanagement systems, and retention systems” (Orrick, n.d.). Every detail is important anddeserves attention when recruiting and training police personnel.
References:
Department JobOpenings – scleoa. (2012). Retrieved from www.scleoa.org/job-openings
Orrick, W. D. (n.d.). [PDF] Recruitment,Retention, and Turnover in Law Enfor… Retrieved fromwww.theiacp.org/portals/0/pdfs/BP-Recruitment.pdf – Similar
