LCSO, TPD look to fill staff vacancies amid nationwide police shortage

Gov. Ron DeSantis recently promised his upcoming budget proposal would include a $1,000 bonus and a minimum wage hike for Florida's law enforcement and first responders — his latest effort to increase retention and hiring numbers across the state.

A law enforcement shortage affects 86% of police departments around the country, according to a 2020 report by the National Police Foundation.

That includes the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) and the Leon County Sheriff's Office (LCSO) though the need for either agency is not yet dire.

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Currently, there are 33 sworn officer vacancies at TPD. That's due to a combination of retirements, the pandemic, job difficulty and the “view of law enforcement in the community,” Deputy Chief Tonja Smith said.

“This is a hard and difficult job,” she added. “A lot of people don't want to do this, or they get into it, and figure out it's not for them. So they leave.”

LCSO Assistant Sheriff Ron Cave said while there are less than five vacancies for deputies, there are about 15 detention positions that need to be filled. Those are the sworn officers who staff the jail.

“It is a very tough and emotionally draining job,” he said of working in the Leon County Detention Facility.

Both law enforcement agencies began offering police academy sponsorships in the hopes of filling the open positions.

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Since 2020, TPD has been sponsoring many of its recruits through the academy, which typically costs $3,200, Smith said. In addition, TPD offers new hires a $1,000 bonus, while officers who are already sworn before their first day working for TPD are eligible for a $11,000 hiring bonus.

This money, according to Smith, came from the city to be used on hiring incentives for the department.

Currently, LCSO has a similar academy sponsorship in place, where those who are sponsored commit to working for the agency immediately following their graduation from the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy, housed within the Public Safety Institute in Havana.

Both law enforcement agencies say the vacancies have not caused increased stress or burnout among officers and deputies — a common symptom of large shortages.

These shortages have been a main talking point for Gov. Ron DeSantis in press conferences dating back to April when he pushed for $1,000 bonuses for first responders to be included in the state's budget, which it was.

On Monday, DeSantis said another round of bonuses will be included in his upcoming budget proposal for the 2022 legislative session. Additionally, DeSantis said he is recommending a total of $73 million to raise the minimum pay for entry-level officers by 20%.

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Also included in the proposal is a 25% increase in pay for current law enforcement personnel “to help state law enforcement agencies retain” their employees, DeSantis said.

On Friday, LCSO will swear in 20 deputies, who are evenly split between corrections and law enforcement. And next week, TPD is taking on 13 graduates from the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy.

However, these graduates do not immediately start. At TPD, they enter a probationary period where they spend weeks and months with officers learning "how TPD does business," Smith said.

At LCSO there is a similar training process is done, but it is expedited because the agency immediately hires applicants, placing them into agency roles before they complete a background check, Cave said. This is to entice new recruits to stay with LCSO after graduation.

Cave said this process does not lessen hiring standards.

"We have high standards and Sheriff McNeil always talks about how he wants to be a world-class agency," Cave said. "In order to do that, we have to hire world-class people.

"We're not just going to take anybody that applies with the agency. We are very selective."

Contact Christopher Cann at ccann@tallahassee.com and follow @ChrisCannFL on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee Police, Leon Sheriff see modest number of vacancies