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October 14, 2015

Proposed tax would fund competitive Public Safety salaries

scottw@standard-democrat.com SIKESTON -- Volunteers with Sikeston to the Third Power will be going door to door to get information about a proposed sales tax out to the voters. A big part of that will be a discussion about Public Safety. The Sikeston Department of Public Safety is currently six officers short, not to mention the dispatching position that needs to be filled and three officers who are about to go on extended medical leave...

Scott Welton
Sikeston Department of Public Safety Capt. Bill Mygatt gathers items needed to equip a new DPS officer for police duty with DPS. Upon being hired and equipped, newly hired officers spend 12 weeks working alongside a field training officer after which they are ready for solo shifts, according to Juden. "But it takes them about three years to get comfortable on the street so the sergeant isn't looking over their shoulder," he said. (Photo by Scott Welton, Staff)
Sikeston Department of Public Safety Capt. Bill Mygatt gathers items needed to equip a new DPS officer for police duty with DPS. Upon being hired and equipped, newly hired officers spend 12 weeks working alongside a field training officer after which they are ready for solo shifts, according to Juden. "But it takes them about three years to get comfortable on the street so the sergeant isn't looking over their shoulder," he said. (Photo by Scott Welton, Staff)

scottw@standard-democrat.com

SIKESTON -- Volunteers with Sikeston to the Third Power will be going door to door to get information about a proposed sales tax out to the voters. A big part of that will be a discussion about Public Safety.

The Sikeston Department of Public Safety is currently six officers short, not to mention the dispatching position that needs to be filled and three officers who are about to go on extended medical leave.

"For the past 18 months, we have had problems just getting qualified applicants to apply," said Sikeston DPS Director Drew Juden. "We might get 11 or 12 that apply and get two that meet our standards."

For the complete article and more local news stories, see the Wednesday edition of the Standard Democrat. For the electronic edition click here to log on.

For more information on the proposed half cent sales tax, visit the Sikeston 3 website/Facebook page at Facebook.com/Sikeston3.

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