SPD deserves more for the amount of work they do

Published 7:05 pm Friday, September 28, 2018

The numbers don’t lie.

According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics (UCR), officers in Selma responded to 245 and 270 violent crime calls during 2013 and 2014 respectively, which is the last two years data is available for. This compares to Prattville (86 and 81), and Alexander City (119 and 81). Property crime, which had the highest number of calls in all three cities, showed Selma with a total of 1,630 and 2,070 in 2013 and 2014, compared to Prattville (1,284 and 1,274) and Alexander City (661 and 716).

When taking into account violent crime, property crime, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft, Selma officers responded to 3,505 and 4,410 calls in 2013 and 2014 respectively in those categories compared to Prattville (2,654 and 2,629) and Alexander City’s (1,453 and 1,521).

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The money is not far off from other departments our size either.

The SPD officer makes more than a starting Deputy at the Dallas County Sherriff’s department at $30,600. They also earn more than officers in two cities its size, Andalusia ($29,400) and Alexander City ($28,322). Clanton officers and Mobile officers are barely above the SPD at $32,240 and $31,679.43, respectively. A first-year Prattville officer starts out at $37,086.36.

While the pay is comparable, the call volume, and workload the SPD officers face are not.

With the passing of the new fiscal year budget this week by the Selma City Council, we hope that the money they have earmarked for the SPD will actually go to that department, and give them the resources they need.

On Sunday, one of their own was injured in an ambush shooting.

Thankfully, the officer is home with his family, but what about the next possible attack there is?

We cannot stop criminals from doing bad things, but we can better prepare our officers for the dangers they face compared to others.