LETTERS: NEED FOR PAY INCREASE WAS HEEDED

To the editor:

I wanted to take a moment and address the recent pay increases for law enforcement officers in the sheriff's office. The taxpaying citizens of Cape Girardeau County deserve the best return on their tax dollars, and it's up to those of us who are elected to see they get it. Remember the old saying, "You get what you pay for." The same holds true when it comes to hiring law enforcement personnel. With today's new training requirements, salaries for law enforcement cannot be allowed to fall below the competitive market average. The agencies willing to pay average market salaries get the cream of the crop, and the agencies that do not get to choose from what's left. As long as I am your sheriff, I will strive to recruit and retain the best officers your tax dollars can employ. You expect it, and you deserve it. You also deserve services beyond enforcement of the law.

The sheriff's office continually works within our community to forge partnerships and deliver services to the citizens. Evidence of this is easily seen by looking at the programs the sheriff's officer personnel are involved in. There is not a D.A.R.E. program in the Oak Ridge school system, and there soon will be one in Delta. My deputies maintain close working relationships with members of the rural fire districts. They also make community stops and talk to owners and patrons of the small stores in the out-county areas, because they are the hubs of these communities. If you want to know what's going on in a particular community, this is the place to find out. We now have a deputy assigned to help create neighborhood watch programs in the out-county areas, and I am also proud of our participation in the TRIAD/S.A.L.T. program (Seniors and Lawmen Together).

The aforementioned programs are all a part of this administration's belief that, indeed, we are our brother's keeper. They are also why the County Commission chambers were filled with concerned citizens at the public budget hearing in December. The citizens expressed their concerns about the salaries being paid to county officers and the problems it would cause if allowed to continue. I am proud to say the County Commission listened to these concerns and became personally involved in researching the problem. The result was a much-needed adjustment to the salaries of the employees at the sheriff's office. The Cape Girardeau County commissioners are all to be commended not only for taking time to listen to the concerns, but more so for taking action to start getting your law enforcement officers the average market pay they deserve.

JOHN D. JORDAN, Sheriff

Cape Girardeau County

Jackson