Blue mood

Already survivors of crushed budgets and stifled salaries, officers of local police departments might want to prepare for another round of bad news.

With Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s new budget set for a Dec. 17 release, police, city and state officials are poised for more slashing to state 599 funding, money administered to local police departments by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice. House District 25 Del. Steve Landes said local governments would be lucky if funding for police departments didn’t tighten.

Such cuts would act as a sucker punch to small departments, such as Waynesboro and Staunton police, who still are recovering from last year’s decrease in funds.

“The budget is going to be quite a challenge again this coming year,” said Landes, R-Weyers Cave. Lawmakers are “trying to balance it with all the additional costs, especially related to health-care costs, health-care reform and other items.”

Landes, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said he anticipates the possibility of cutting even more from police funding that’s already dropped by more than $20 million since 2009.

According to local authorities, lack of money, turnover, aging equipment, a growing population and more responsibility heaped upon fewer officers has contributed to a decrease in morale.

“Morale very seldom has one source, good or bad,” said Waynesboro police Chief Doug Davis. “Of course, when you’re in tough economic times, money might play more of a part. It’s gone up and down – right now we’re down.”

Officers in Davis’ department agree. Whether it be a patrol officer or shift commander, several said they can feel the weight of the 10 vacant positions for which they must compensate. Low morale quickly becomes a tangible problem, one that can’t always be solved with money, authorities said.

Still, some officers said they’re prepared to wait out the storm.

“Money isn’t everything, alas, I’m still here,” said Sgt. Kelly Walker, Waynesboro police spokesman. “I stay because I keep believing it’s going to get better somehow.”

Measuring morale

One of the chief problems with morale comes from its hazy definition. Describing the condition as a problematic “state of mind” or “lack of motivation” would overlook the depth and complexity of the issue, authorities said.

“It’s very much like the fog,” said Capt. Leslie Miller of the Staunton Police Department. “You can’t really get a grasp on it, but everybody knows what it is.”

In a report by Detroit Police Department veteran Clive Stewart, morale can be theoretically defined as the “positive affective (sic) orientation towards membership,” or group cohesion. When the employee desire to belong to a particular organization increases, so too does morale.

Because of the delicate nature of the issue, several officers of the Waynesboro and Staunton police departments agreed to speak on condition of anonymity about how low morale affects their jobs.

“Morale isn’t great,” a Staunton officer said. “It’s pretty bad right now. If you don’t feel backed up, then the pressures that come from the outside can become overwhelming.”

Officers from both departments described police work as something they can’t shake off at the end of the work day.

“And whether you mean to or not, when you give your heart to it and you don’t feel appreciated – that’s the thing,” the officer said.

Staunton police Chief Jim Williams said he believes people do not choose to become police officers for money.

“Nobody gets into law enforcement to get rich, and if they do they don’t stay in it for very long,” Williams said. “Overtime pay did take a hit, and you have to cover shifts.”

Williams pointed to a recent serial arson investigation and the Oct. 29 Campbell Street shooting of Anthony Scott Moore, 32, of Staunton, as examples of stretched manpower.

“That takes a lot of resources,” he said. “You can’t just say, ‘We’re not going to do it.’ It is tough that we haven’t had a pay raise – but nobody else has either.”

Authorities from both departments said one way to measure morale is to allow officers the privacy or place to express their concerns or unhappiness. Likewise, starting a team of officers to provide ideas of how to improve the workplace can also help. Staunton police, for instance, started the Spirit Team.

Davis described police officers as ambitious, loyal and upward-thinking people who can feel frustrated when opportunities for promotion, better benefits and an increase in pay disappear.

Dana Schrad, executive Director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, echoed Davis.

“It becomes a morale issue because oftentimes police officers measure their worth in an agency to how well they’re treated,” Schrad said.

She listed competitive salaries, training, good equipment and police cruisers that don’t need constant maintenance as a handful of things police officers desire. She also said officers seek intangible things as well, such as appreciation from their department and community.

How to solve a drop in morale when finances tighten presents a problem police chiefs grapple with any way they can.

“That’s kind of the million-dollar question,” Davis said. “Obviously, we’re not in a position to offer more money. So you look to other ways.”

Davis said awareness and sensitivity to his officers’ concerns, along with looking for ways to increase their job satisfaction, are among a few general ways to combat low morale.

Search for greener grass

Since 2009, Waynesboro police have watched as 10 officers left the department for other places. Two of them told Davis in their exit interviews that money drove their decisions.

A Waynesboro patrol officer said the problems in his department seem less about morale and more about pay.

In recent months Staunton and Waynesboro police have watched as several officers left for jobs at other agencies, particularly the Albemarle County Sheriff’s Office and Charlottesville Police Department, authorities said.

The starting pay for a Waynesboro police officer, as advertised on the city’s website, runs at about $29,872 with benefits and five days of vacation time during the first year on the job. The median household income in Waynesboro is almost a third higher at $42,145, according to the latest census statistics.

According to Staunton city human resources department officials, the starting salary for a Staunton cop is about $31,741, almost a fifth less than the city’s median household income of $39,142

The Albemarle County Sheriff’s Office advertises a starting salary of $34,500, with about $3,300 tacked on for uniform cleanings and allowance. Albemarle deputies start with a dozen vacations days per year and their own take-home cruisers. Waynesboro police share cruisers.

The Charlottesville Police Department boasts a similar deal with a starting salary of $35,256 and a take-home car.

“I think everybody has a financial responsibility, and if you don’t have to do anything but take a 20 percent pay increase – that’s the issue,” a patrol officer said. “I don’t even know if it’s a raise issue as it is staying on par with other departments.”

Thinking back to about 17 years ago, Waynesboro police Sgt. Brian Edwards said he remembers an exodus from the department of officers interested in the Virginia State Police.

"And the lure, of course, was a bump in pay and a take-home squad car," Edwards said. "That kind of stopped at the end of the '90s, and now Albemarle County is offering the same thing."

The sergeant, who leads a team in the patrol division, said departments in the Shenandoah Valley are at a disadvantage.

"I see Albemarle County coming into the Valley and recruiting, and we're losing a lot of our best and brightest," he said.

Authorities said places such as the Albemarle and Charlottesville departments focus their recruiting on agencies such as Waynesboro and Staunton to save money.

“If there are other departments knocking on our door and trying to recruit us because they won’t have to pay for training, then it makes sense,” the officer said. “At this time, there’s probably 50 percent of the patrol officers that are either looking or getting ready to make a jump.”

Waynesboro’s Walker said officers leave departments regularly, sometimes to places such as the Secret Service, FBI or Virginia State Police. Those cases are easier to stomach because it shows officers going to different “echelons” of law enforcement, Walker said.

“But when somebody goes to a neighboring law enforcement agency that I think we’re as good as – that’s when it becomes harder to swallow,” Walker said.

Edwards said he hears officers grumble about pay and an increase in workload, but that money isn't the elixir for low morale.
"As a mid-level supervisor, I feel that I have the most impact on my officers' morale," he said. "I can't increase their pay, I can't give them a take-home car, but I feel I can lead in a way that can give them confidence. It all comes down to day-to-day interactions."

Waiting it out

Despite the financial cuts, officers and management in Waynesboro and Staunton said their departments are still capable.

“That’s what we have,” Walker said. “So far, despite everything, we have managed to make it happen when it counts – and that’s a testament to the folks that we hire and the selection process. It’s the quality of the people we have here.”

Walker referred to two summer homicides, specifically, as examples of how the department pulled together.

Davis said he’s received approval to hire six new officers. Williams said he expects to hire four or five.

Waynesboro City Manager Mike Hamp said between fiscal year 2009 and fiscal year 2011, the police department’s budget dropped by 9 percent to about $3.7 million.

“I’m not surprised to hear that [599 funding] is under review and perhaps subject to cut,” Hamp said. “That would probably be another challenge that we look to contend with.”

Although state funding may decrease, Hamp said it is possible the city could chip in the difference by rearranging other funds. But, he said, it’s too soon to tell what any city department’s budget may look like.

“I respect our officers because, in my experience in talking to them about morale, is that they tend not to tie their morale and job satisfaction to their compensation,” Hamp said.

The city manager acknowledged that starting pay for officers in Waynesboro is generally less than starting pay across both sides of Afton Mountain.

Losing money forces departments to trim fat and examine areas in which a department can improve.

“You look back to some core services and what we’re really supposed to be doing,” Williams said. “Sometimes you’ll find out you’re doing something because you’ve always been doing it.”

The chief said the department is getting ready to examine how it responds to false alarms, daily occurrences that tie up officers. Funeral homes no longer depend on police to set up parking directions and traffic cones, he said.

“When you’ve got a shift that’s supposed to have nine officers, and you’re running it with six or seven, it’s tough,” Williams said.

The chief said Staunton police in 2007 started requiring officers to sign a three-year contract with the department to save money. Williams said a handful of officers put through training would submit their two-weeks’ notice as soon as they finished at the police academy.

“As soon as we got people through training they were putting applications in for the sheriff’s office,” he said. “If we invest $40,000 into you – that gets frustrating.”

Williams and Davis said they do not take offense when officers choose to go to other departments. If anything, they said they expect it because smaller agencies often work as training grounds for bigger agencies.

“I don’t take it personally,” Davis said. “It’s not a personal thing – it’s a business thing.”

Williams said he uses such situations to show he respects a person’s choice and even lets officers know they can always consider returning.

“That’s a very individual decision,” he said. “When a young person comes in and says, ‘Chief, I’m putting in my two-week notice and I’m going,’ I try to give them the best advice that I can and wish them the best.”