WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The city of Warner Robins is in the process of filling positions for its police force. To get the job done, that included raising starting salaries to $52,000 this summer.
At this time last year, the department told us they had 43 positions to fill. Now, they say that's down to 21 jobs.
Daniel Domanski got hired at Warner Robins Police Department just two weeks ago.
"I cant wait to start. I can't wait to help Warner Robins, and I can't wait to join the other guys on patrol," he said.
He says working for the city had a lot of appeal.
"The pay is a huge incentive honestly, but also knowing that the command staff here is who you should be working for," Domanski shared.
The starting salary is now $52,000, which Domanski says will help keep his family afloat.
"You've got to keep a roof over your head. That's really all it really is for us. Making sure that 'You know what? I have enough.' I have a child. I want to make sure that she's taken care of," he said.
That's one reason Interim Chief Roy Whitehead says they've seen such success in hiring.
"People are wanting to be the police number one. Number two, we have become an agency that people want to work for based on how much we are paying," Whitehead said.
From January to July, the city hired 16 officers, and they've taken on about the same number since July.
"We've had basically 15 hired in the last 3 months, so its been an advantage to have the increase in pay," Whitehead said.
However, it could be a while until you see Domanski, or any of the rookies, out on patrol.
"They attend a 12 week training period up at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center up in Forsyth, and it's complete basic mandate training. Subsequent to that, they started a new program where they do 6 weeks of advanced training there," Whitehead said.
But even after the training at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, they still have more time before they officially are out on their own.
"It will be a total of 18 weeks of training and then they go into field training, which is another 12 weeks, before they are actually turned loose," Whitehead said. "So that's why its difficult when you're hiring people. Just because you hired them that fill the slot on the road yet."
Whitehead says they have three that just finished, four heading into it, and four more waiting to enter. He says that will help the patrol division and others.
"In order to answer the calls with all of the shortages we've had, we've sort of moved people from our crime suppression and traffic back to patrol, so that's what our biggest need is," Whitehead said.
He says at this rate they are moving along well. He says they will continue to attend job fairs and keep postings online to recruit more interested employees.
The city is still looking for a full-time chief. Whitehead started his position in January as a six to eight-month term.
He's now in his ninth month on the job. Whitehead says they expect to move ahead in the process within the next two months.