Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall expressed continued concerns over law enforcement recruiting and job retention in Alabama during a visit Thursday to Mobile for a fallen officer commemoration at the Alabama State Port Authority.

His comments come as agencies in larger cities throughout the state struggle to attract law enforcement officers, particularly in Jefferson County where the Sheriff’s Department has 450 fewer deputies than five years ago, according to state Rep. Allen Treadaway, R-Birmingham.

“When we see a national narrative that is adverse to law enforcement, it minimizes the profession of what law enforcement does, and we create a disincentive of individuals who want to engage in this profession,” Marshall said. “It’s a unique group of people willing to risk their lives to keep people safe. We have to find ways to be able to incentivize it.”

Seeking solutions

Treadaway, in an interview with AL.com, said he would like to see state lawmakers consider incentive packages this spring to help agencies recruit police officers amid reports that out-of-state agencies have visited Birmingham in efforts to attract Alabama-based police officers elsewhere.

He cited Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis announced last April that the state had awarded $5,000 bonuses to more than 1,750 newly employed law enforcement recruits through the Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Program. Of those, 530 were recruited from out-of-state.

“The state needs to do something (similar) also,” said Treadaway, who retired three years ago from the Birmingham Police Department following a 31-year law enforcement career. “Why the red flag is not thrown up and elected officials are meeting to do something is somewhat shocking to me. This trend is of fewer and fewer officers each day. This is an absolute crisis.”

The crisis is a national one as police leave the profession in large numbers. A Police Executive Research Forum issued a report last year that showed police officer resignations up 47% in 2022, compared to the year before the pandemic in 2019 and before the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. More than three-quarters of police agencies in the U.S. are reporting difficulties in recruiting qualified candidates to become police officers, according to a report by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. A quarter of the agencies surveyed reported eliminating or reducing services because of staffing, the report says.

In Mobile, the police department has been down around 60 officers from its budgeted 488. But numbers have been improving in recent months, where the shortage is around 39 to 40 officers, according to Police Chief Paul Prine.

“It might not sound like huge gains, but it really is,” Prine said. “We’ll never be at net zero regarding attrition, but if we stay on this trend, my hope is by the end of the year we’ll be very close to our budgeted strength.”

The city, over the past eight years, has doled out multiple raises to employees including additional longevity and pay adjustments first responders.

Prine said that the Mobile Police Department also hired a full-time recruiter for police and fire, and credited that position and digital advertising toward lowering attrition.

Marshall, while in Mobile, credited creative solutions that assist with increased police recruitment. He referenced a new program at Jacksonville State University in Northeast Alabama where a new Southeastern Command College is enrolling students to participate in police management and leadership studies as well as conflict resolution and other aspects of law enforcement.

“The biggest thing we can do as a community is show its support for and advocate on behalf of law enforcement officers and also stand strong with them when they are doing obviously difficult jobs,” Marshall said.

Honoring police

His comments came during the 27th fallen officer event the Attorney General’s Office has held since 2021.

Kimberly Sickafoose, a six-year police officer with the Port Authority, died while on duty on May 11. She died shortly before 3 a.m. after her police cruiser plunged into the Mobile River.

Sickafoose was once the police chief of Silverhill. She was the first woman to serve as a police chief in Baldwin County.

Mark Janowski, chief of the Alabama State Port Authority, said Sickafoose’s death left him with 19 officers, down from 38 which is allowed under his agency’s annual budget.

“Recruitment is an ongoing struggle for us and other departments throughout Baldwin County and Mobile,” Janowski said.

Sickafoose, who also worked with police agencies in Elberta and Foley, died as a result of a drowning but the circumstances have remained unknown. Janowski ruled out that the drowning was the result of a medical event.

“The port is one of the crown jewels in Alabama,” Marshall said. “The reality is this port does to have the economic impact of this region and state without law enforcement that makes sure it’s safe and secure.”

This story was updated at 2:03 p.m. on Jan. 11, 2024, to include remarks from Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine.