February 22, 2021
Sikeston DPS addresses staffing issues, adds hiring bonus for laterals
SIKESTON — Faced with ongoing staffing issues, Sikeston Department of Public Safety is now offering hiring bonuses and pay increases for officers who are already qualified or trained. Sikeston DPS Chief James McMillen said his department has discussed the staffing issues and made some adjustments over the past several months...
By Leonna Heuring/Standard Democrat
Working to get photo Tuesday morning. -lh
SIKESTON — Faced with ongoing staffing issues, Sikeston Department of Public Safety is now offering hiring bonuses and pay increases for officers who are already qualified or trained.
Sikeston DPS Chief James McMillen said his department has discussed the staffing issues and made some adjustments over the past several months.
“We hired 15 people last year, but we are still 12 people down,” McMillen said.
In one recent 18-month period, Sikeston DPS lost 25 officers, which were due to retirement, conduct issues and switching professions or departments.
“We did several things since that time to draw applicants, which worked, but now we have seven people who need the academy and a handful that are currently being trained in patrol division,” McMillen said. “So, the ‘felt loss’ is much greater than 12, but rather a whole division of people.”
DPS has also moved many people around to support its basic services, which are fire and patrol, he said.
“Very few who work in fire can assist patrol, due to several not being post-certified and others conducting fire training or are needed operators,” McMillen said. “We have cut CIU (criminal investigation unit) in half, liquidated school resource officers (except one), housing officer, power squad and half of detective division. Even our K9 is working patrol.”
McMillen said DPS has already implemented the following measures to help with recruiting and retention: loosened the residency requirement from 10 miles to 30 miles from Sikeston; reimbursed recruits from the academy their $6,500 academy costs; paid overtime on 14-day pay periods instead of 28-day periods [which results in officers “losing” less overtime when a sick day or holiday (which don’t count as “hours worked”) falls within the pay period.]
“We are slowly making a comeback, but we know that the summer will be here soon, and, effectively, we have no reserve officers,” McMillen said.
The City of Sikeston benefits financially from the public safety concept, which it has used since 1976, currently saving about $1.2 million in personnel expenses every year, McMillen estimated.
“Our agency has been affected more by staffing issues than any other agency in the area, and it’s mostly because we are a public safety department,” McMillen said, noting the public safety concept provides both public and fire protection services for its residents. “I have to go to the [police] academy and sell them on being a [fire fighter], too; not everyone wants to do that.”
If DPS split the divisions of public safety and fire, the City would have to hire 15-18 more people, McMillen said.
“We’ve overcome some of these things and made progress. We’ve had to replace experience with inexperience, and so our efforts now are trying to pull those experienced people from other agencies,” McMillen said.
Effective earlier this month, the Department will implement $3,000 signing bonus for laterals (officers that are hired as already trained or qualified) and start pay of laterals will commensurate with experience (or increased in relation to their training and experience), he said.
“This will not solely be based on years of experience but be discussed on a case-by-case basis, meaning: ‘What are they bringing to the table?’” he said.
McMillen noted this is also a common practice with many law enforcement agencies around the country.
“As part of the budget discussion coming up very soon, we’re also going to discuss general wage adjustments for DPS, particularly in light of minimum wage increases and the difficulty we see in hiring public safety officers,” he said.
McMillen also said he hopes drawing qualified officers will give the department the growth it needs to make promotions and refill many of these areas that it drew from during this recent decline.
“Hiring trained officers (with experience) is far better than hiring someone with no experience and spending 12 months training them,” he said. “You see the immediate return on the investment.”
However, challenges remain.
When asked if he thinks there’s a connection between a homicide happening and being short-staffed or what effects being short-staffed may have on crime in Sikeston, McMillen said he’s not sure.
“Of course, the more officers we have and the more people we have out, the safer the city can be,” he said.
Continuing to work shorthanded means that the work of many remains on the backs of a few, McMillen said.
“… It is vitally important we make these improvements so we can restock our agency with officers,” McMillen said.
Keep in mind DPS has many other obstacles that cost money as well, such as fire stations, equipment, maintenance, etc., but people are DPS’ most valuable resource, McMillen said.
“Even so, we must balance it all to make this train move down the tracks,” the chief said.
This latest move by DPS seems like one in the right direction, he said.
“Considering everything we have faced over the last couple years,” McMillen said. “I feel we are on the right track.”
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