PHOENIX — Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Col. Jeffrey Glover emphasized the agency’s staffing need and talked about what retention and hiring efforts are being made to remedy it.
Glover told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Thursday that every year DPS has been asking for more troopers, full-time equivalents (FTEs) and additional resources.
“What we’re also trying to do is make sure that we’re retaining and taking care of our people,” Glover said. “And that’s been part of the focus because you don’t want to lose anybody because you don’t have enough people.”
What retention and hiring efforts did the DPS director say are being made?
As far as hiring efforts, Glover said that DPS has put a hiring task force in place to increase the agency’s ranks.
“(We) make sure that we’re heavily recruiting in other states as well because we don’t want to just keep stealing from other agencies because all you’re doing is you’re creating and compounding an issue that already exists in Arizona, which there’s not enough police,” Glover said.
The DPS director added that due to their unique skill set, troopers are highly attractive to local agencies who may offer higher pay.
Glover said that the agency has been improving and enhancing what it’s doing, including with health and wellness plans, to provide something extra for troopers.
“We just recently got a pay raise, which thankfully Governor Hobbs and the legislators saw fit to be able to give us,” Glover said. “But it’s also what we can do internally right? It’s about what we can be able to provide our troopers as a resource to make sure that they’re keeping their minds in the right place and that they feel like they are being valued when they’re out there on the road and they’re doing that job.”
Some of the resources being provided include being able to workout on duty and a wellness reprieve after 15 and 25 years — which Glover explained is about a monthlong sabbatical.
DPS also struggles from a lack of infrastructure with its last building being built around 30 years ago.
“With time constraints when you make an arrest, you have to get the person into jail, you got to be able to do the booking process. There’s all these different things that factor into that,” Glover said. “And so, it is difficult. We do need more substations, … many of our outlying areas … definitely need … to get either new buildings or some assistance on expansion.”
The DPS director emphasized that environment and accommodations have a big affect on Trooper’s mental health.
“We need solid facilities to be able to work out of, … it goes back to that mental health and mental well-being of feeling safe in your own working environment,” Glover said. “It’s already bad enough that we work in an environment that we are unsafe in because of the fact of the nature of what we do. So, having that peace of mind goes a long way.”
The post DPS Director emphasizes staffing need, talks retention and hiring efforts appeared first on KTAR.
