The town of Tunica doesn’t have much turnover on its tiny police force. Of its 10 officers, half of them have been on the job for more than a decade.
But that wasn’t always the case. Before the growth of the area’s gambling industry, the police department would hire someone; they’d stay a year, then leave.
“We were a training ground,” says Chief Richard Veazey. “We couldn’t compete with the larger towns and counties.”
Better salaries solved Tunica’s retension rate, but things in Memphis are a bit more complicated. Since the beginning of the year, City Council members have investigated ways to increase the number of police officers in Memphis …
Read the rest of Mary Cashiola’s In the Bluff column.