Vicksburg Police pay increased

VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — Vicksburg Police Chief Larry Burns has announced a pay increase for all Vicksburg Police Department officers.

A starting VPD officer, who is non-certified, will now be paid $52,500 per year. Last year, before the election, the city administration increased starting officer pay from $35,000 to $42,000. Even with the raise, starting officers were among the lowest paid in the area. For comparison, the starting pay for Jackson police officers is $51,000 per year.

“We’re raising the standard to a point where we can now say we are not just looking to hire a person, we’re going to hire the right person”, said Chief Burns. “Because that is what the City of Vicksburg deserves and that is what it needs. I want to be able to put officers in the field who are articulate. They have a heart for what they do, they’re serious about what they do, and the citizens feel safe. The citizens say, ‘You know what? We’ve got a good quality police department.’ That’s what we’re after; we want to raise that standard to where the citizens of this community feel good about their police department. That starts with not just a skill set. That starts with integrity, with character, that’s what we’re after and that’s what we’re trying to attract.”

“My passion is in law enforcement,” said Sgt. Lee Williams, a four-year veteran of the department. “As far as the pay is concerned, we’re all happy. We’re ecstatic. When it was announced, man, you could see the morale go through the roof. Everybody was jubilantly happy, so I believe the retention level is going to remain. We’re going to be able to keep our people and recruit good officers. That’s a big boost for the Vicksburg Police Department. We’re very happy about that.”

“Like Sgt. Williams said, it boosted the morale. In that meeting that morning, you could just see the faces light up,” said Investigator Robert Scott, 32, and a Warren Central High School graduate, who joined VPD about a year and a half ago.

Turnover has been an issue at VPD for several years, with the main complaint being the pay of the officers, according to Sgt. Williams. “Turnover was so high. It was hard to get people to come, and it was hard to keep them. The problem remained that everybody who wanted to leave, and everybody who didn’t want to come, had a problem with the money. Hopefully, we’ll be able to change that. This is a great start.”

The department was able to rearrange its budget to provide the pay increases by finding funds in capital expenditures and payroll. They then ran the numbers by City Accountant Doug Whittington, and after his approval, they implemented the change without needing to obtain approval from the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. “Our support staff got a raise first, we took care of the home staff first,” said Deputy Chief Tommy Curtis. “Booking, front desk, admin people, people who work in different divisions.” Their pay was increased at the beginning of October, with some employees receiving a pay increase of nearly 40%.

Curtis started with VPD in 2005 and was making under $35,000. Over the next 20 or so years, his pay increased by only $6,000. “That is unheard of…just the cost of living would probably put you close to $50,000. So we never looked at this like it was brave. This was a must if we were going to keep people here at the department,” explained Curtis. “So what’s been happening is the Vicksburg Police Department has been a training ground. We would get people here, we would train them and after two to three years, another agency would offer them $52,000, $53,000, and they would leave.”

“Become the standard, or we’re going to hire the standard,” said Curtis.

“We lost a lot of officers in a span of 12 years prior to this administration. That’s a reflection of leadership,” Burns confirmed. “To be competitive we have to raise the standard.”