JACKSON – Mississippi lawmakers are advancing House Bill 855 to help police departments across the state retain officers by offering financial incentives.  The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jeffrey Harness, D-McComb, would provide a one-time, $600 stipend to certified law enforcement officers who have worked at least one year at their agency.

Harness said the bill aims to reduce officer turnover and discourage officers from seeking higher-paying jobs in neighboring states.

“Those guys that work hard, they serve the community on a daily basis, nightly basis, and they don’t have easy jobs. Unfortunately, they don’t get paid a lot either,” Harness said. “We have a problem with losing certified officers to police stations that have higher pay in our communities. Hopefully, this mechanism will help local police officers stay where they are, instead of leaving to other states.”

The bill would cost the state $6.5 million. According to 2023 records from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mississippi officers earned the least in the nation, with an average starting salary of $47,060. The median annual wage was $56,719 in Alabama and $54,106 in Louisiana.

Small-town police departments struggle to compete 

Beyond competing with out-of-state agencies, Harness said, small-town and rural law enforcement agencies also struggle to keep officers from moving to larger Mississippi cities, where salaries tend to be higher.

“For the most part, especially in Mississippi, we have a lot of rural counties. These officers are getting paid probably a little bit over minimum wage in some places. You know, if they get $15 an hour, that’s good, and they must work two or three jobs just to just to survive,” Harness said. “I don’t know a person in law enforcement in my area that has one job, and that’s it. They have at least three jobs.”

According to 2023 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual mean wage for police and sheriff patrol officers in nonmetropolitan areas in Southeast Mississippi was $41,220. In Southwest Mississippi, it was $40,650.

In George County, Lucedale Mayor Doug Lee said his city recently budgeted to increase police pay to combat the revolving door of officer turnover. Previously, new city police officers would undergo training at the expense of the city only to leave once certified, in search of higher pay.

“It’s the six coastal counties and the local sheriff’s department, where they move off to hunting an extra dollar or two, and that’s okay,” Lee said.

The George County Sheriff’s Department said it pays $18.50 an hour to starting deputies and that four law enforcement agents have left in the past year to find better pay elsewhere. The department currently employs 32 agents.

In State Line, Mayor Willie Miller echoed similar concerns. The small town of 500 residents struggles to recruit and retain officers due to low wages and lack of tax revenue.

“We’re struggling right now to fill openings. I actually have a new guy we just hired this week, but it’s very hard being a small municipality to get a person that’s willing to stay here, that’s not from here, for the salary that we’re able to offer,” Miller said.

State Line pays its full-time officers $15 an hour. Miller said the city does not generate enough tax revenue to provide competitive wages and hopes the state considers legislation to support local police departments.

“If they could step in and help, it would be appreciated because every small town here is struggling with the same thing that I’m struggling with, and I just think it would be fair to the people. They pay their taxes, they’re dealing with what they can, but we don’t have enough large businesses to take care of the need,” Miller said.

State Line currently has three officers, two of which are part-time, making 24-hour coverage impossible. The town leans on the Greene County Sheriff’s Department for overnight and emergency response.

“We’ve got a break in time here where there’s no coverage, and once people find that out, things happen when you don’t have coverage,” Miller said.

One of those incidents, a triple homicide on New Year’s Day, resulted in a manhunt across county lines. State Line made use of state resources through the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, a bureau within the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, to investigate.

State police expansion considered 

DPS Commissioner Sean Tindell said his agency is considering expanding state police operations to support smaller communities struggling with law enforcement shortages and lacking resources to respond to major incidents, like the State Line shooting.

“When you get this large event that might take place, the additional assets that the Department of Public Safety can provide can be critical into making sure they’re meeting their everyday demands, as well as continuing the investigation into a major crime,” Tindell said.

Tindell said law enforcement pay is often stagnant compared to jobs in other sectors, resulting in lower interest from prospective officers.

“I think everybody’s struggling with recruiting and with retention of law enforcement officers, and particularly when you look at some of our smaller counties and smaller departments, the struggle is even greater for them to find the people that want to: A, come into law enforcement, and B, go through the rigors and the challenges that it comes with, with training and time,” Tindell said.

DPS has requested state appropriations for new, centralized headquarters and an expansion of personnel. In the long term, Tindell believes a combination of state-subsidized local law enforcement incentives and stronger cooperation between state and municipal police could help struggling departments.

“State law enforcement, federal law enforcement can always be an aid, can provide additional resources and be a force multiplier, but nothing is ever going to be more important than having those local police officer, sheriff’s deputy, that understands who they are, where they live, and their communities,” Tindell said. “It’s so important that we support our local law enforcement… and we need to encourage our local municipalities and our local counties to provide better salaries.”

Tindell urges local governments to prioritize officer pay in their budgets, pointing to Hattiesburg as an example of how incentives increase retention.

A model for retention 

Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker said the city is already seeing a positive impact from increasing base pay and adding additional resources for officers.

“We were the first city in South Mississippi to raise the starting pay to $50,000 a year,” Barker said.

The city also implemented additional incentives and training programs, including:

— A city-run 17-week police academy instead of sending officers to 12-week programs elsewhere.
— Free tuition at the University of Southern Mississippi for officers.
— Step raises of $1,000 per year.
— Additional pay based on education level.

“We really focus on trying to grow our own as opposed to getting people to transfer in, so, when we have a new academy, we make sure we go to places like Southern Miss and William Carey and talk to their criminal justice students, talk to psychology majors and other folks who just want to be part of serving for something bigger than themselves,” Barker said.

Hattiesburg officers also have opportunities for specializations, including roles in detective work, STAR team operations, training and interdiction.

“There are a number of specialties that you can attract at a department that’s the size of Hattiesburg, the big thing is trying to get folks in, get them lots of experience, so they can then figure out which direction they want to go,” Barker said.

When it comes to what area to focus on first, Barker recommends starting with compensation.

“Because if you don’t, other agencies around you will, and we’ve learned that the hard way,” he said.

Solutions from the state 

Harness said the state bears some responsibility in making law enforcement a more desirable career choice and encouraging officers to remain in their communities.

“As a child… what did we say we wanted to do? We wanted to be a police officer, fireman, lawyer, doctor… But the reality is, if they have a family that can’t survive, we need to fix that,” Harness said. “We lose a lot of good law enforcement agents to larger cities because of the pay, and these are good officers. They go to these larger, still small cities, but they go to these larger cities, and they do very well. They protect the communities, but we need them to stay at home too.”

Harness proposed a similar bill last session, which outlined a monthly stipend, but it died in committee.

This story was originally published by RHCJC News at rhcjcnews.com.