ACCG Local Law Enforcement Compensation Survey

Lt. Governor Casey Cagle created a special senate task force called Compensation of Police and Sheriffs (COPS) to study the issues surrounding law enforcement pay, recruitment and retention.  In order to provide the task force with relevant and timely information ACCG conducted a comprehensive survey of all of the counties regarding compensation and benefits provided to local law enforcement.

The results of the 2017 Law Enforcement Compensation survey are in. The report gives an overview of the history of the Compensation of Police and Sheriffs (COPS) Task Force and indicates that overall the majority of counties that responded have examined or are planning to examine compensation. 40.4% counties provided a salary increase for sheriff’s deputies outside of the recommendation a compensation study had during the last three years while 83.3% counties noted that they intended to provide a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) or merit increase when other county employees receive them. The report gives more statistics regarding retirement, health insurance, annual/sick leave and other related programs as well as methodology, geographic breakdowns and population breakdowns.

Provided by ACCG Associate Legislative Director Debra Nesbit is a presentation on the COPS Task Force Compensation and Benefits. The presentation includes annotations and charts that give additional insight into the survey results, including the questions asked and responses given. This includes questions such as “Does your county provide health insurance for the families of Sheriff’s deputies and jailers?” and “Does your county have a civil service/merit system?”

 

ACCG recommendations and suggestions can be found here.