Nationally, law enforcement agencies are dealing with personnel shortages.

In Marlboro County, agency leaders are looking at ways to recruit new employees while retaining longtime ones.

Interim Sheriff Larry McNeil said the Marlboro Sheriff’s Office is not short.

Currently, they are at capacity with road deputies and are two investigators short.

“But we have filled all the deputy positions,” he said.

McNeil admitted nine of those deputies are not certified. Three of those deputies are at the police academy for eight weeks.

The department will be sending them in shifts to the police academy.

In the 2022-23 budget, McNeil plans to ask County Council for additional officers.

There has been a pay increase for the Sheriff’s Office and Detention Center along with a $2,000 sign-up bonus.

With people willing to travel for employment, McNeil said he knows they are not only competing financially but have to look at what it takes to be marketable so that people would want to come here.

This means offering more than a salary. It could be by having a K-9 or SWAT teams.

“We have to provide and do what we can to sustain employment with everyone,” McNeil said.

Bennettsville Police Chief Kevin Miller is working on finding ways to deal with the shortage of officers while retaining the current ones.

In the last six months to a year, six people have retired from the department along with people leaving or being out sick.

“I have tried to be creative and come up with a plan or some kind of option for the council to look at to see the need,” he said.

Some things he is looking at include a take-home vehicle policy for people who live outside of the county. He is also looking at a night shift differential, which offers up to $1 more an hour, to those who are on the night shift.

Possible incentives for new recruits would be offering a $3,500 sign-on bonus for a certified officer and a $500 officer referral fee. “So if you’re a police officer here, and you are able to recruit, you would get a $500 bonus,” he said.

To implement this plan, it would cost between $62,000 and $65,000 a year.

“It sounds like a lot but it’s not when you’re losing officers at the rate that we are,” Miller said. “We’ve got to provide a service to the city and our service is a 24-hour service. You are talking about a service that is not a want, it’s a need.”

The Bennettsville Police Department is having a job fair from 10 a.m.-noon on March 11. They are partnering with SCWorks.

Those attending will be able to see the various department vehicles and facility along with having someone from every division on hand to answer questions and give them an idea of what the Bennettsville Police Department does.

“It is a chance to let them see what it is like to be a police officer for a day,” Miller said.

If interested in working for the Sheriff’s Office, contact McNeil at 843-479-5605 or the Bennettsville Police Department at 843-479-3620.