COLUMBUS, OH—Gov. Mike DeWine said Wednesday his administration is considering raising the starting pay for state troopers as it tries to address a staffing shortage that’s left the state roughly 200 people short of state officials’ hiring goals.
Lt. Col. Charles Jones, whom DeWine has tapped to take over as the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s superintendent later this month, said the state’s pay scale for starting cadets has fallen behind some big-city and suburban police departments.
But, Jones said, larger cultural forces also are a factor, alluding to social unrest in 2020 that saw instances of rioting across the country, and the associated increased public scrutiny of police and political polarization over the role of policing in general. Other police departments, including Cleveland, also are dealing with police staffing shortages amid a rise in reported violent crime levels. DeWine added the patrol has been unable to hire and train cadets fast enough to keep up with the pace of retirements.
Jones said the patrol is trying to address the issue through its recruitment efforts.
“I think right now, just because so much has happened over the last few years, I think there’s a lack of interest in law enforcement [as a career path] for a myriad of different reasons,” Jones said. “So I think there is some hesitation on the part of potential applicants to come into this field.
“It takes a lot of work to recruit a new trooper, a cadet into our academy who wants to be an trooper. And we’re doing everything we can in this division to bring a new outlook into the highway patrol,” he added.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol is responsible for enforcing traffic laws on state routes and highways. It has roughly 1,600 uniformed troopers, plus 1,000 support personnel. It also provides security at the Ohio Statehouse, and some other state office buildings.
Base pay for state troopers starts at $55,532, although total compensation can add up to just over $62,000 including overtime, according to the state highway’ patrol’s recruitment website.
The staffing issue came up on Wednesday during a ceremony where DeWine officially announced Jones as the next superintendent of the state highway patrol. He will replace Col. Richard Fambro, who is retiring. Also getting promoted is Maj. Joshua Swindell, who will take Jones’s former job as assistant superintendent.
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