Abbeville Police having trouble keeping officers due to low pay

The Abbeville Police Department is having trouble keeping police officers, and it’s no secret as to why.
Answer: Salary.
A new Abbeville patrolman, after taxes, clears $250 a week after working 42 hours a week. That equals to $13,000 a year after taxes. Before taxes, it’s around $17,000 a year.
After a year on the job and passing certification at the police academy, an Abbeville police officer’s pay jumps about 15 percent. The state gives a certified officer a supplement of $500 a month. After taxes, a second-year Abbeville patrolman clears on average of $620 every two weeks.
Stay eight years and clear $790 every two weeks.
Joe (not his real name) is one of the few patrolmen who has been with the Abbeville police for more than six years. Joe is not getting rich working for Abbeville. He has a wife and children and they are trying to make it on his paycheck of $790 every two weeks.
His family is on food stamps and in the next couple of months, he is giving up his home to Sheriff Sale because he can no longer afford it. The family is moving into a mobile home.
The family qualifies for food stamps because of his low salary.
“It is rough,” admits Joe. “We live with only the
basics.”
Joe could easily move on to another police department and make more money, but he wants to stay in Abbeville because he loves the city and he is close to his family.
In the next two weeks, another patrolman will be leaving the police department because of his low salary. With this person leaving, the department will be short nine policemen.
What does that mean for Abbeville residents?
There will be two less officers patrolling the streets of Abbeville on a 12-hour shift.
When the department has enough officers, there are six officers patrolling during a 12-hour shift. There is an average of 32 calls an hour to handle in Abbeville.
Today, because of the shortage, there are only four police cruising the streets. Four officers are now having to handle 32 calls an hour or 384 a year.
Many of those same officers are also having to work on their days off to fill the void.
Abbeville Police Chief Tony Hardy is having to find creative ways to put patrolmen on the streets.
“If we had more patrolmen on the shifts, they would not be running around trying to catch up with the calls,” said Hardy. “The shorter you are, the more calls you have to handle. That means more work per man. The more people we have, the less calls we have to handle. The less calls, the less stress on the patrolman. The less stress, the better they perform.”
Chief Hardy has been the Abbeville chief of police for the last five years and a police officer for 31 years, 27 in Abbeville. He knows all too well about low salaries.
Surrounding law enforcement agents are beefing up their salaries and paying as much as $11,000 to $18,000 more a year for a first-year policeman than Abbeville.
The Abbeville City Council and Mayor Mark Piazza want to give new police officers a raise by increasing their starting pay from $17,000 a year to $23,000 a year.
Mayor Piazza said the Council has offered to pay the $500 a month supplemental pay for a new officer until he or she gets post certified and the state begins paying it.
But according to Piazza, Abbeville has a unique law on the books that says if the Council votes to increase the starting pay of a new police officer, the city also has to give all those in the police department a raise.
By giving all rookie police officers an extra $300 a month, it would cost the city over $250,000 because police department workers all get raises.
“Our hands are tied, because of the state law,” said Mayor Piazza. “This law makes it cost prohibitive. We can not help the starting patrolman that needs it the most. This law needs to be changed so we can fix the problem.”
Because of Abbeville’s low salary, many officers who attend the police academy and are certified, leave for higher paying jobs.
It cost the city $800 a person to send them to the academy. Chief Hardy makes his officers sign a contract saying they have to stay three years. If they leave before, the officer has to pay the city back $800 for its academy training.
The City Council is taking notice of many officers quitting. Councilmen Francis Touchet and Brady Broussard created a survey to mail out to each Abbeville police employee.
There are 13 questions on the survey like “Are you proud to work for APD?” or “Do you feel fulfilled and appreciated in your current employment?”
The officers are being asked to fill out the survey and can or cannot sign their name on it.
Touchet said at last week’s meeting that he is worried that there will not be enough officers to respond to all of the calls because of the shortage.
“We are having issues with recruitment of employees of the Abbeville Police Department,” said Touchet. “This survey is a way we (council) can hear from every employee. This is an opportunity for the police officers to tell us what it is that they need for the success of that particular department.”
Touchet said he and the Chief will not make the results of the survey public. The results will be for the Council, Mayor Mark Piazza and Chief Hardy to read.
“We have to have the right people to protect us,” Touchet added. “If we do not have enough people, we will be in a bind.”