[11/15/02]Recruiting of new police officers has begun in earnest with the Vicksburg department placing ads in newspapers from Memphis to New Orleans.

The department is now about 15 shy of its optimum count of 87, Chief Tommy Moffett said Wednesday at the regular meeting of the Vicksburg Civil Service Commission at City Hall. He had said last month that, since he began his work in Vicksburg a year earlier, the department had gone from too many officers, about 103, to too few, about 73.

While the advertising is aimed mainly at officers with law-enforcement experience, the department still wants entry-level applicants, Moffett said.

“At this point we feel like our pay, our benefits, our city and our department are at a point where we can attempt to solicit the best applicants from across the state,” Moffett said, “and that’s what we’re attempting to do.”

Experienced officers would likely have completed required courses at the Mississippi Law Enforcement Training Academy. Rookie officers must complete initial training in a year at the expense of their employer and while on the payroll.

Moffett said advertisements detailing the salary and benefits now offered by the city ran Sunday and Wednesday and were scheduled to run again this Sunday in one or more of the main newspapers for Memphis, Greenville, Jackson, Biloxi and New Orleans.

“From what I’ve seen before, I don’t think it truly said what we had to offer vacation days, sick leave, annual leave, take-home car,” the chief said. “You have to spell all that out individually.”

The advertisements have cost the city $1,500 to $2,000, less than the training costs the city invests in one entry-level hire, Moffett said.

Of the approximately 31 officers who have left the department since Moffett took charge 13 months ago, eight or nine were fired, at least five retired and the rest resigned, he has said.

Since Moffett’s arrival, the city has revamped pay and benefits offerings so that the police department’s are among the best in the state. The scale’s annual base-pay range for patrol officers is $25,000 to $31,000, and it includes incentives for education and physical fitness that can increase a patrolman’s annual pay to $34,300.

“We’re a much better department than we were a year ago, a much better department than we were six months ago,” he said.

“We’re going to do the things that are necessary to get qualified officers and have an outstanding department. I believe we’ll get a good response it’s just a matter of getting the word out.”