Sheriff: Personnel shortages in the ranks demand a more competitive pay scale

First, some truths that should by now be self-evident:

▪ Law enforcement officers are not and have never been paid enough. Given the work they do, the stresses they endure, the risks they take and the strains their careers place on family and personal life, what we’re willing to pay them for what we demand of them is shameful. The good ones deserve at least twice what they make; the handful of bad ones exemplify abuse of authority of the most despicable kind and should be purged from the rolls, and worse.

▪ Law enforcement agencies are not and have never been funded enough. There are always too many crimes, too many criminals, too many prisoners, too few officers, too few resources, too little space, too little equipment, and too little money.

▪ We can never police and jail our way out of crime, and the perpetual difficulty of recruiting and retaining good peace officers is a big part of the problem.

When the FY 2018 budget was adopted, there were 13 open positions in the Sheriff’s Department. Now there are almost twice that many, Sheriff Donna Tompkins said, not counting the six that were eliminated to fund Rapid Resolution, a program initiated in 2015 to move cases more quickly through the system and ease jail and court docket crowding.

Against that backdrop, Tompkins is asking the Columbus Consolidated Government for a change in the way officers in her department are compensated. The field isn’t level, she said Tuesday at a meeting of Columbus Council, because the Sheriff’s Office can’t compete with an agency whose mission it is supposed to complement — the Columbus Police Department. A city police officer, she told the Ledger-Enquirer’s Alva James-Johnson, makes about $2,500 more than sheriff’s deputy, not counting signing bonuses and perks such as take-home vehicles.

Tompkins noted at the council meeting that the city had approved a pay incentive plan for the department based on long-term service as part of the FY 2018 budget; now she is asking for increases in entry-level pay for the various grades of correctional officers and deputies. She estimated the annual cost at $438,000-plus (close to the amount lost for Rapid Resolution), but is asking only about half that now because the fiscal year is half over.

Tompkins acknowledged that the functions of the Sheriff’s Department and CPD are not the same, but “we do respond to calls for assistance from the public … make arrests, we work traffic accidents, we conduct investigations.” Moreover, the department’s is not exactly a low-risk, low-stress mission: “As of this morning, we had 1,120 inmates, of which 56 were charged with murder, 400 were verified gang members, and we have a significant mental health population.”

Whether the sheriff’s reference to the police department is a persuasive apples-to-apples comparison given the two agencies’ respective roles and responsibilities is one thing council will have to consider. Whether the need for an enhanced Sheriff’s Department pay system makes its own argument is another.

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Sheriff: Personnel shortages in the ranks demand a more competitive pay scale."