Indianola Police Chief Ronald Sampson was the man with the plan at the Board of Aldermen work session Tuesday evening. Sampson presented how the Indianola Police Department would soon be rebranded and restructured.
“We have to rebrand ourselves,” Sampson said.
Having been on the job since early April, Sampson has assessed what needs to be done.
During his presentation, Sampson explained principle challenges, staffing impacts on department operations, organizational restructuring, patrol, and adequate pay.
The chief noted that he conducted interviews within the department to evaluate what contributed to the decline in staffing. Sampson gathered the following factors from his findings: lack of adequate competitive pay; low morale; economic challenges; lack of administrative appreciation and support; limited training opportunities; lack of promotional opportunities; lack of career plan; and resignation.
The chief gave an example of an inadequate career plan within the department.
“We have a very seasoned officer, and then we have a young officer,” Sampson said. “Their salaries are almost next to each other. We need to have a career plan.”
Sampson also emphasized the importance of training officers.
“It’s my job to train the next generation to come in here and take over what we do,” Sampson said.
There will be more effective and efficient supervision and better managerial control with the proposed organizational restructuring.
There will be patrol changes as well. Sampson shared that he is “big on patrol.” Officers will conduct more traffic enforcement and set up checkpoints. Sampson said they would realign patrol zone boundaries according to calls for service. There will be four zones instead of five, and the city will be divided into two districts. The difference will cater to a shift in the accountability structure and delivery of services.
“We’re making sure that during the shift, that sometime somewhere, if somebody calls about shots fired, speeding of four-wheelers, we go and give that some attention now, but we could give it a lot more attention if we were the adequate staff,” Sampson said.
Sampson explained that their response times are higher because they are not adequately staffed. The chief plans to fix that problem by recruiting and retaining.
“Once we get our people in and get things adjusted, our times will go down,” Sampson said. “I can guarantee you that.”
Sampson acknowledges that the department is in a competitive state with surrounding police departments when it comes to adequate pay.
“We aren’t playing to win the Superbowl, but right now, we are just playing to be a playoff team because there is no way in the world where we can compete with Greenville.”
According to Sampson, the City of Greenville starts its non-certified officers off with $18.53 per hour. The Indianola Police Department starts non-certified officers off with $12.00 per hour.
Sampson also shared that Leland, Ruleville, and Greenwood offer higher pay for law enforcement officers.
“Do y’all see where we are getting hit in the head with the old stick?” Sampson asked the aldermen as he shared salary comparisons.
Sampson also had a plan on how the department could increase pay without increasing its budget.
“It’s not costing us anything,” Sampson said. “This is money we already had budgeted, and then we can take that money and spread it back to the officers. Once we do that, this is my wholehearted belief, especially for the people who want to come back, I truly believe once we match the salary of some people around us, we will get some good people back.”
Sampson said they have to do something to compare and be competitive.
He also mentioned the department’s immediate needs, such as vehicles, body armor, Ipads, radio updates, dispatch upgrades, long rifles, and training.
