ROME, Ga. — The City of Rome Police Department is experiencing challenges with keeping its force fully staffed.
According to a statement shared with Channel 2 Action News, the Rome Police Department currently has more than a dozen vacancies for sworn officers and is actively recruiting to find qualified, quality candidates.
“Despite current vacancies, operational readiness has not been compromised,” a department spokesperson said. “Patrol shifts continue to be staffed through strategic scheduling and overtime when necessary, ensuring officers remain available to respond to calls for service and proactively patrol our community.”
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In the same statement, a spokesperson said the recruiting challenges are not restricted to the City of Rome, saying that “like so many law enforcement agencies across Georgia and the nation, we continue to experience recruiting challenges.”
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Over the past several years, the department said Rome, as a city, has made big investments in public safety, such as a competitive pay plan with merit increases yearly. Additional investments in new technology, equipment, training and other resources was said to have helped give officers what they need to protect and serve the community.
The department also said the merit increase has “greatly improved officer retention, and we’re no longer seeing officers leave simply to accept higher salaries at neighboring agencies.”
Assistant Police Chief Rodney Bailey recently spoke to the city commission about the vacancies, and their recruitment strategy.
“We can’t just hire anybody. We have standards,” Bailey told the city’s Public Safety Committee.
To that end, Rome PD said it was exploring several strategies to recruit candidates for the department, including marketing campaigns, but the department is “committed to finding the right people rather than simply filling vacancies.”
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