Dougherty police chief: Low pay reason for personnel losses

ALBANY — Dougherty County Administrator Richard Crowdis offered stark anecdotal evidence Monday that backs a common complaint made by county law enforcement agencies.

“When a Dougherty County Police officer pulls up beside an Albany Police Department officer, he’s already $5,000 behind in salary,” Crowdis said.

The county administrator’s remark came after DCP Chief Jackie Battle, in her annual report to the Dougherty County Commission, told that board that lower pay has led to significant turnover in her department.

“From 2011 to 2014, we’ve had personnel leave 48 of 55 positions,” Battle said. “We had nine leave last year, but we’ve been able to fill those positions. However, when we train qualified officers to join the Albany-Dougherty Drug unit, we’ll be short again.”

Crowdis told the commission at its February retreat that finding funding for employee pay increases should be a top priority for the board as it goes into the new fiscal year on July 1.

Battle said her staff had responded to 18,352 calls in 2014, making 575 total arrests. She also said that traffic accidents and fatalities had steadily declined in the county since the state-sponsored HEAT (Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic) program had been introduced in the county in 2006.

“The state ended funding for that program in 2010, but we’ve continued to utilize the HEAT cars to monitor aggressive driving,” Battle said. “We think having those cars on the highway has helped cut down on the number of serious accidents in the county.”

Battle also introduced Kenneth Johnson to commissioners at Monday’s work session. Johnson was recently named assistant chief of the department.

“This is Chief Johnson’s 27th year with the department, and he hit the ground running (in his new position) last week,” Battle said.