-David Crowder, WRGA News-
Sammy Rich
Despite a pay raise implemented several years ago, the Rome Police Department is still facing a shortage of officers.
According to Rome City Manager Sammy Rich, the issue isn’t retention; it’s recruitment.
“I’m a big believer that the recruitment is somebody that does that job if they’re happy, and what they do by word of mouth are most likely going to be the best person to go in recruit,” he said. “We continue, you know, this is an ongoing conversation. It’s an ongoing conversation that is happening all over the state with my peers and city and county managers, and so it’s not unique to Rome, Georgia, unfortunately.”
Rich commented on why it’s a challenge to recruit new officers.
“If anybody turns on the evening news, it doesn’t take very long to figure out why it is a very difficult job to work in police,” he said. “I just thank God that we’ve got a very dedicated agency and we’ve got great leadership in our police department, but they get up every day and strap on a uniform.”
The problem used to be officers leaving Rome for other agencies for higher pay.
Just a few years ago, the average starting salary for a Rome Police officer was around $32,000.
The commission then implemented a pay plan that raised that starting pay to more than $54,000.
