The Associated Press
GORHAM, N.H. (AP) - It’s getting harder to keep police in town - and the culprit is low wages and fewer health-care benefits.
Officers “are going elsewhere for better money and better benefits,” said Gorham Police Chief Ron Devoid, “and I don’t know what the answer is.”
Sgt. Tim Godin recently left join the New Hampshire State Police. He was the second officer to leave this year; the first recently retired. Two more officers are looking to leave, as well, Devoid said.
“Four guys in less than a year, that’s a big chunk,” he said.
Gorham has eight full-time employees and a handful of part-timers and is on the lower end of the salary scale for officers, below the Berlin and Coos County Sheriffs departments, Devoid said. He said officers often begin their careers with Gorham, only to leave when a better opportunity arises.
“It’s just sad when the town spends money for training to see someone leave after three or four years,” he said. “We had a big investment.”
Other employees have been feeling the crunch, too.
Last week, residents passed a renegotiated teachers contract after defeating the original contract in March. The biggest change was in health insurance benefits. Some teachers are now paying 15 percent when before they paid nothing.
For town workers, non-union employees currently are responsible for 25 percent of their benefits packages - they were paying upwards of 36 percent before the town capped their portion and created a special fund for health insurance. Gorham police officers and dispatchers, who are unionized, also pay 25 percent.
In comparison, the New Hampshire State Police pays 100 percent benefits on top of higher wages.
“We don’t even come close with the state,” Devoid said. “It certainly puts us at a disadvantage.”
The problem is shared by other municipalities, too. “I don’t think we’re having any more of a problem than any other entity in the state,” Town Manager Bill Jackson said. “There’s an inability for a lot of departments to find police officers and hold onto them.”
Devoid said there may come a time when the department’s pro-active approach to fighting crime becomes a reactive one.
“The bottom line is, the community’s safebeing isn’t going to suffer,” Devoid said. "(But) we’ll have to adjust ourselves to whatever takes place.”