Today’s batch of burning questions, my smart-aleck answers and the real deal:
Question: I have been very engaged in the process of everything that's been going on in the nation and in Asheville over the past weeks. And I have certainly observed the conflict between police and protesters. It brought up a number of questions related to the city police and county sheriffs departments. What are the starting salaries for police officers and members of the county sheriff's department? What are the salaries for someone who has stayed for 10 years? What is the 5-year turnover rate? What is the breakdown in terms of gender, race and ethnicity for individuals who are out in the community. What are the lengths of their shifts? How does the level of starting salaries compared with public school teachers and nurses?
My answer: What, no question about average shoe sizes of all officers? Seriously, this so badly violates my "no more than 100 questions within a question" policy, I don't know where to start.
Real answer: Actually, let's start with the Buncombe County Sheriff's office, and the turnover rate, which includes resignations and terminations but not employees who have reached retirement, according to Sheriff's Office spokesman Aaron Sarver.
"During the 5-year period, we have had a total of 55 people leave our Enforcement Division — this includes Patrol, Criminal Investigations, School Resource Officers, Civil Process, Administration — out of 224 positions," Sarver said. "And we have had 175 people leave our Detention Division out of 207 positions."
More: Answer Man: Asheville, Buncombe pay employees $244M? Up $75M over 10 years?
The Detention Center numbers reflect "high turnover in a few entry-level roles, but is not reflective of the number of people who enter the organization as a Detention Officer who transfer to Patrol or the Enforcement side and stay with the organization long-term or advance beyond a Detention Officer I classification," Sarver said.
Regarding pay, Sarver provided this information:
• Starting pay for a deputy who works in Civil Process, Court Security or as a School Resource Officer is $41,038 for an 80-hour position per two week pay period.
• Patrol Deputies work 84 hours every two-week pay period and start at $43,090.
• Starting pay for a Detention Officer is $41,212. and that is for an 84-hour schedule each two-week pay period.
Sarver pointed out that Buncombe County employees with 10 years of employment receive longevity pay equal to 5% of their salary. So...
"An 84-hour Patrol Deputy with 10 years of service has a salary of $45,012 (we give a 4.5% raise after a six-month training period) plus the additional longevity pay of 5% percent is $2,250.61," Sarver said. "An 84-hour Detention Officer with 10 years of service has a salary of $43,090.32 (again the 4.5% raise after a six-month training period) plus the additional longevity pay of 5% is $2,154.51."
Regarding gender and ethnicity of employees, and length of shifts, Sarver provide this:
"26% of our staff identifies as female and 14% identify as non-white," he said. "We do not have an ethnicity breakdown as that question is not asked by Human Resources."
More: Answer Man: Is the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium renovation DOA?
Shift lengths depend on assignments, Sarver added, "but most of our deputies and detention officers work 12-hour shifts and a total of 84 hours over each two-week pay cycle. We have many sworn staff that have 'on-call' status and may be required to work beyond their regular shift schedule as needed."
Salary information is available here: https://ift.tt/3hSxLAv
Asheville Police Department spokeswoman Christina Hallingse provided answers for the APD.
"Police officer trainees (that is those who are going through Basic Law Enforcement Training) start at $17.17 per hour," Hallingse said, adding that all city employee salaries are available online at the city's Open Data Portal: data.asheville nc.gov
Hallingse said shift length "depends on the assignment of the officer, but most of our officers work 12-hour shifts and a total of 84 hours over each two-week pay cycle." That would come to $37,499 annually for a new officer, without overtime.
Regarding 10-year salaries, Hallingse said, "There are a number of variables that would contribute to the salary of a ten year officer. Some of these considerations include promotions and special team assignments (such as Hazardous Device Team or Emergency Response Team."
Regarding turnover, the APD has an authorized staff level of 238 employees for 2020 and has had five sworn officers leave and no retirements, for a rate of 2.1%.
It had the same staffing level in 2019 and 2018 and had turnover rates of 8.8% and 11.8%, respectively. In 2019, the department had 21 sworn officers leave and two retirements, while in 2018 it had 28 officers leave and one retirement.
In 2017, 2016 and 2015, APD had an authorized staff level of 222, with turnover rates of 9.5% in 2017 and 2016, and 11.3% in 2015.
In 2017, 21 sworn officers left and four retired. For 2016, the numbers were 21 and six, while in 2015 it was 25 and five.
Regarding gender, race and ethnicity, Hallingse noted that such demographic information is "self-identified from the employee." Currently:
• 5.88% of employees identify as African-American.
• .61% identify as Asian or Pacific Islander.
• 4.95% identify as Hispanic/Latino.
• .92% identify as American Indian or Alaskan.
• 87.6% identify as White.
The reader also asked about teacher and nurse pay. In North Carolina, teachers start with a base salary of $35,000 annually and $45,000 after 10 years.
But individual school systems offer local supplements to boost pay. In Buncombe County, it's 8.5% of the salary for starting teachers, or $2,800, bringing total pay to $37,800. For the 10-year veteran, it's 10.5%, or $4,725, bringing total pay to $49,725.
In a story we did in July 2019, we noted the "average local salary supplement" statewide was $4,580. The story said Asheville City Schools' supplements range from 9%-16.5%.
As far as nurses, the jobs website Indeed.com states, "The average salary for a Registered Nurse is $25.14 per hour in Asheville, N.C." That comes to $52,291 a year.
This is the opinion of John Boyle. To submit a question, contact him at 232-5847 or jboyle@citizen-times.com
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June 23, 2020 at 04:17PM
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Answer Man: Local law enforcement pay? Turnover? Ethnicity? - Citizen Times
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