Published on Thursday, July 27, 2006
in the WESH News

New Troopers Graduate But State Needs Many More

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Florida Highway Patrol is putting 50 new troopers out on the highways on Thursday, but the newest employees make only a small dent in a chronic shortage of troopers in Florida.

After six grueling months of training, the 50 graduates of the FHP's latest recruit class collected their diplomas and their assignments, WESH 2 News reported.

Sherry Head is going with more than a dozen others to beef up patrols along Alligator Alley. She said her sheriff's deputy brother inspired her to go into law enforcement.

"I just wanted to make a difference, be somebody who could help other people and if they needed help, be there to help them," Head said.

Although the 50 new troopers will fan out across the state, 35 have retired over the past six months so the net gain is only 15 troopers for all of Florida.

The FHP currently has 160 trooper vacancies, which is actually an improvement.

FHP was down more than 200 troopers just a little over a year ago. Director Chris Knight pointed to a nationwide problem of fewer people coming out of the military to go into law enforcement, more competition for qualified people and the fact that it's just a tougher job these days.

"The volume of traffic out here, the issues that we deal with are just so much more going on, and the private sector has some pretty attractive jobs," Knight said.

A recent boost in pay and benefits should help. Troopers' starting salaries now now start at more than $35,000. But many troopers said that they are not in it for the money.

All troopers will get a 3 percent pay raise in October as part of the new state budget.

FHP will also be pushing for pay increases and additional personnel in next year's legislative session.