I am writing this letter in response to the article in The Natchez Democrat’s Sept. 8, edition. The article was titled “Aldermen spar over police jobs.”

In the article, Alderman Dan Dillard was quoted saying, “If you compare us to Laurel or Oxford and other cities our size, we’ve got more uniformed officers per capita and seven detectives. Brookhaven has three.”

Most people in Natchez would probably agree that Natchez cannot be compared to any other city in Mississippi. We are unique in our own way. However, one thing that we share with other cities is crime and tight budgets. When the economy shrinks, crime rises.

I understand our leaders wanting to trim the budget and to save wherever possible. However, the place to start is not with your public safety.

In the mid 1980s, I was hired at the Natchez Police Department. At the time, I was number 56 out of a slotted 60 officers. Since that time Natchez has lost approximately 7,000 in population and is 14 officers fewer. However, crime is ever present. According to the Uniform Crime Report, since 1985 more than 2,300 people have been a victim of a violent crime in Natchez. Of that number, 53 were victims of homicide.

The starting salary for a Natchez Police officer is $24,120. This is only around $8,000 more than when I was hired more than 20 years ago. This is shameful.

If you have never walked in the shoes of a lawman or woman, you cannot speak on their behalf. I have.

Our officers only make $11.60 an hour. Try raising a family on that salary. It takes a dedicated person, one who has a spirit of servitude to do this job.

I did some comparisons to the three towns mentioned by Mr. Dillard. Laurel’s population is only slightly larger than ours. They currently have 59 officers. Their starting salary is $34,325. This is 13 more officers and more than $10,000 more a year in wages.

Brookhaven has a population of 12,000 and 41 sworn officers. Oxford has a population about the same as ours at around 17,000.

The turnover rate is high at the Natchez Police Department. It is a training ground for young officers to get in the field, and then move on, not because it is a bad department, but because they can move to places like Laurel and make more money.

Laurel has to compete with agencies in Hattiesburg and the surrounding area.

How did they figure out how to compete? Simple, they raised the starting salary and now they get officers from the same departments that they used to lose officers to.

The cost to hire and train a new officer is more than $15,000. This is wasted when officers leave after a short time.

Raising salaries may not be possible this year, but cutting the number of officers can be prevented.

The officers are busy for 12 hours a day, especially on nights and weekends. The detectives are always on call and the cases never stop coming. The time is now to start thinking of innovative ways to increase pay before budget discussions come around next year.

Mr. Dillard before you act on your words, I suggest that you set up a ride-along with an officer on a Saturday night that patrols the tough streets in our town, so that you can gain some perspective into the lives of not only the officers, but also of those citizens of our city that have to live on those streets.

If you think we need fewer officers and sheriff deputies, just ask the families of those that have lost loved ones to murder or have been robbed or burglarized.

Alderman Gray, thanks for taking a stand for the police officers.

I hope that you continue to support them and garner support from the other board members.

I end with these words “You should pay police officers like your life depends on it.”

Jody Waldrop

Natchez resident