HURON — At its Dec. 2 meeting, the Huron City Commission approved a new hiring incentive program for the Huron Police Department.
This new incentive is designed to give Huron Police Chief Kevin Van Diepen the ability to recruit in ways that have been a challenge recently.
“We have to compete with other agencies like Highway Patrol and cities like Sioux Falls when recruiting graduates from (vocational schools),” Van Diepen said. “We lose quality recruits to those and to other states like Minnesota. That makes it hard to not just bring in a recruit, but to then keep them in Huron for a number of years after they’ve completed training.”
The incentive program approved by the city commissioners provides Van Diepen with an incentive to qualified applicants of $2,000 after each year of employment.
Leaving in the course of a year would vacate that year’s incentive, so the funds are not pro-rated over the year.
This incentive would apply for any new hires who qualify as a certified police officer or qualify for South Dakota reciprocity eligibility, and it would be available after each of the hire’s first five years of employment.
At that point, Van Diepen hopes that the officer has found connection in Huron that allows them to consider Huron their home. “Once someone has something they are tied to in the community, whether it’s softball in the summer or coaching soccer or their church or whatever it is, that makes them more likely to stay in Huron long-term.”
What is the staffing need?
Information provided by Van Diepen lists the current Huron Police Department staff as 21 patrol officers, four detectives, and the Chief of Police, for a total badge staff of 26 officers. A 2018 FBI crime statistic study showed a national average of 2.4 offers per thousand persons population. Moreover, cities in the size of Huron (population between 10,000 and 24,000) averaged 2.31 officers per thousand.
Huron’s current staffing places patrol staff at 1.6 officers per thousand population. Including detectives and police chief gets the total to 1.98 officers per thousand, which is significantly below the number.
To reach the average for cities of Huron’s size at a national rate, the HPD would need to hire another four officers. To reach the number exclusively on patrol officers, it would take nine hires, which still doesn’t meet the national overall average number, which would require an additional two more hires.
Is the need there?
Chief Van Diepen noted that Huron has seen an increase in drug-related crime in recent years:
“Not only do you see the use and possession crimes, but the crimes to afford the drugs and crimes committed while using drugs have also increased, primarily theft and destruction of property.”
In numbers provided to the Plainsman by Huron Police, the department has seen a rise of 17 percent in calls for service since 2015 and an eight percent rise in reports filed in that time. During that same time, all accident reports have risen in town nine percent. Throughout that time period, the department has actually seen a net staff loss of one officer, going from an overall uniformed staff of 27 down to 26.
What hurts recruiting?
The response was quick from Huron’s Chief when asked why recruiting and retention was difficult.
“There is a strong stigma right now against law enforcement. It hurts from the start as kids don’t even start off wanting to become police officers due to attitudes and comments they hear and see, and if they do get through that, they face that stigma when they get on the job from community members. That can quickly lead to discouraging an officer, who may leave the community or police altogether.”
This has reduced the overall number of applicants who apply for listed positions within the department. “We’ve seen our numbers go from 30-40 applicants for an open position down to 12-15 applicants,” Van Diepen stated.
According to numbers from the Police Executive Research Forum, released summer 2019, departments responding to its survey have seen an applicant drop of between 33 percent and 60 percent nationwide, so the numbers experienced by HPD are not unprecedented.
Looking ahead
With new hires on board, Van Diepen sees the ability for HPD to impact the community to be even greater.
“We have requests for an officer to present at DUI classes or to talk at a school, and where our staffing is currently, that can really impact our coverage,” stated Van Diepen. “Vacations, sickness, and regular time off can also impact a day pretty hard when you’re this tight.”
He sees the ability for officers to directly counter the stigma surrounding police officers through their community presence in programs like Safety Town, Shop with a Cop, and D.A.R.E. as a positive outcome of full staffing as well, with those programs significantly serving youth of the community and having an impact not only now, but long into the future.
The approval of the incentive program gives Van Diepen an extra asset in his recruiting efforts. He’s hoping to potentially have his first eligible officer for the incentive as soon as January.
