Police officers should be recruited closer to home

Dear Editor,

I applaud Mr. Horton for his letter in the Mar. 12 Chesterfield Observer calling for better salaries for the Chesterfield police officers. As a retired sergeant from the department (1-1-03), I have seen many of the effects of the lower salaries. Officers worked extra jobs consistently, after hours or shift overtime, just to make ends meet for normal living conditions. The pay started turning around just prior to my retirement, but it still needs to increase. I know the county's budget is tight, but when you invite people to move to Chesterfield County based on the schools and a safe environment, you have to take care of those that are given the responsibility of providing the services.

Another problem with retention is the fact that in years past, too much time was spent on recruiting people from colleges in the states of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Not that there was anything wrong with those potential officers, but why not concentrate on areas closer to home? The people from the northern states, who wanted to be police officers at home, had to pay their own way for their police training. The way around that was to get hired in Chesterfield, get three years under their belts and then go back home. They had nothing here to keep them. There were an awful lot of good officers that left, but there were some very good ones that chose to stay. I often wondered how many qualified citizens of Virginia were overlooked when those jobs were filled? The department also has competition with the federal government. The county has lost a lot of officers to them (FBI, DEA, Secret Service, Marshall's Service, etc.) because of the federal salaries and benefits.

I was born and raised in Chesterfield County and have spent my entire life here, except the first eight years following high school (Thomas Dale) playing professional baseball (Detroit Tigers organization). When my baseball days were over, I wanted to be a county police officer because, as I grew up, those officers were respected and counted on for their help and for the fact that this agency was respected nationwide. It still is today, and I have all the confidence in the world that the current police administration will do everything in its power to maintain that good name and continue to hire exceptional people to fill these vacancies. I wanted to be a part of that tradition. You see, when I was hired, I became a part of the community, and it wasn't just a job.

I would make one suggestion for the department that may help. New recruits should have to sign a five-year contract. Should they decide to leave prior to their fifth anniversary as a sworn officer, they would have to reimburse the county for the cost of their training, which is in the neighborhood of $122,000. I think this would put a dent in some of the monetary loss the department incurs and with the extra time an officer would be required to stay, the officers would decide to make Chesterfield their homes for good.

Murray Robinson

Chesterfield