‘Crisis point’ in law enforcement prompts Ga. sheriff’s push for tax hike for raises

After more than 40 years of wearing a badge, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills says law enforcement has reached a “crisis point.”

“Everyone in our profession is on edge and worried as never before,” Sills wrote in an open letter to Georgians.

The country has seen unprecedented ambush attacks on police with local officers bearing the brunt of the violence.

At the same time, Sills continually loses trained officers to higher-paying state and federal jobs.

He is calling for a statewide sales tax to make local salaries competitive with other agencies.

In his letter, Sills cites 140 law enforcement deaths in the United States in 2016, with a 69 percent increase in fatal shootings over 2015.

Breaking down the statistics, Sills shows 106 local officers died, 19 state officers, six federal officers and nine others worked for schools, transit or territories.

“In the last two months alone there have been nine officers shot within 100 miles of where I’m sitting and five of them were killed,” Sills wrote.

Georgia ranked fourth in the nation in line of duty deaths.

The threat of violence compounds Sills’ greatest struggle — hiring and retaining qualified officers.

“This is not unique to Putnam County, but a systemic problem throughout Georgia law enforcement,” Sills stated.

Just this week, Bibb County Sheriff David Davis said his top priority this year is to recruit 50 - 75 new deputies to help overcome a manpower shortage of more than 150 officers.

A recent Georgia Sheriffs’ Association survey showed 76 of the state’s 159 sheriffs reported a loss of more than 500 officers to state law enforcement agencies in the last 10 years.

Sills, the second vice president of the association, noted that did not include officers who resigned to take another state position.

Governor Nathan Deal’s proposal to boost state law enforcement salaries by 20 percent will only exacerbate the plight of sheriffs and police chiefs, Sills stated.

The issue came up during last fall’s Salute to Georgia Sheriffs in Jones County.

“Let me be very clear here,” Sills wrote in the letter dated January 3. “I absolutely support those officers getting a raise and think they deserve it. On the other hand though, if the state officers deserve a 20 percent increase, local city and county officers deserve the same increase, if not more.”

Sheriffs are seeking legislation in the upcoming Georgia General Assembly session that will mandate that starting salaries of full-time, certified officers be at least the starting salary for the Georgia State Patrol, which Sills referenced as $46,422 annually compared to the average $29,900 for a deputy sheriff in the state.

A sales tax increase would be the most equitable way to fund the salary hikes, Sills said.

He equated the law enforcement salary disparity to the state’s past problem of retaining qualified teachers which led to a legislated minimum salary structure and benefits.

“Surely our deputies and city officers, the men and women who go headlong into harm’s way every day, deserve to be treated similarly as our teachers have been,” he wrote.

Sills is calling on Georgians to lobby state senators and representatives to pass legislation in the coming months.

“It has become incredibly hard to hire an officer and if this crisis isn’t addressed in some manner very soon, there will be dire results to the safety of the public,” he said.

This story was originally published January 5, 2017 at 7:05 AM with the headline "‘Crisis point’ in law enforcement prompts Ga. sheriff’s push for tax hike for raises."