Florence confronts police staffing shortfall; council adds cameras, drones and bonuses to cope

Pam Osborne, a Florence resident, told the City Council that fewer officers on patrol "can lead to increased crime rates" and urged action to prevent slower response times and reduced community policing.

The concern drew a response from Chief Heiler of the Florence Police Department, who said the department currently has 14 open sworn positions out of a total authorized force of 95 and described steps the city is taking to maintain public safety while recruiting and retaining officers.

"Right now, we are 14 officers, positions that we can fill, out of 95," Chief Heiler said, and he added that four officers are in training and four are on family medical leave, reducing the number of officers available for patrol.

Heiler described technology investments intended to reduce demand on patrol officers: a signed contract to add 36 additional Flock cameras (which he said increases the department's deployment to 66 cameras), expansion of an autonomous drone program with plans to place drones on the South and West sides of the city, and a new real-time crime center that staff will expand by training younger recruits to work in the center.

City Manager Scottie Davis announced financial incentives the city is offering to aid recruitment: a $1,500 sign-on bonus and a $500 finder's reward for referring applicants. He said the chief is also working with Human Resources on a retention bonus.

Council members pressed for details about how quickly new technology would come online and whether those tools would meaningfully reduce patrol workload. Councilman Bailey asked whether the additional Flock cameras and drones were already under contract; Heiler said the Flock contract is signed and the department expects the equipment to be deployed to strategic areas shortly. Councilman Neesmith Jackson asked how flock cameras affected personnel needs; Heiler replied, "Oh, significantly. Yes. Absolutely."

The department said recruitment efforts also include wrapped public-transit buses, billboards and regular social-media outreach. Heiler pointed to a national trend of police staffing challenges and said Florence's staffing shortage is comparable to but smaller in percentage terms than some nearby departments.

The council discussion and public comment left several questions for follow up: the department described current vacancy and training counts, the city manager listed sign-on and finder bonuses, and Heiler described an ongoing multiyear technology rollout. No formal motion or ordinance resulted from the public comment portion of the meeting.

Ending: Council members thanked police and other first responders for their service and said they would continue to pursue recruitment, retention and technology strategies.