(This article first appeared in the January print edition of the Hendersonian.)
What appears to be a nationwide problem is also affecting local law enforcement agencies—staffing.
“From being involved as past president of Indiana Police Chiefs Association, and I’ve traveled to the International Association of Chiefs conference, in almost every class you sit in, an instructor will mention the crisis our profession is in,” said Henderson Police Chief Billy Bolin. “I’ve heard or read stories where they call it ‘The Ferguson Effect.’ I don’t know if it’s that or the general vibe of what’s happened in our profession the last 10 to 15 years.
“People don’t want to be in law enforcement. It’s not just Henderson; it’s not just Owensboro. You can go from Seattle to Miami—they’re struggling with it. Every now and then you get the unicorn where a department is full.
“At one point last year, our department was full. And we aren’t anymore. When people leave, you’re trying to get more people in, but they don’t want to do it anymore.”
In the last several months, the Henderson Police Department reported the agency was down by 11 sworn officers at one point. With recent hirings—two of whom still need to attend and graduate from the police academy in Richmond—the deficit of sworn officers is now eight.
HPD Assistant Chief Bob Shoultz—who spent the first few years of his career at HPD before moving on to and eventually retiring from the Kentucky State Police—said the number of those testing for police officer qualification has declined from more than 100 to a handful.
“I started at HPD in 1993,” Shoultz said. “Testing to qualify as a police officer was held at North Middle School, and there were so many there to take that test. Then I tested for the state police in 1995. I had to wait (to attend the police academy)… because there were thousands (of recruits) at the police academy. Now at regional testing you might have 20 to 25 people show up. They just aren’t gravitating to law enforcement like they used to.”
“Most of my career,” Bolin said, “I’ve seen generational families where grandpa was a police officer, then the father, then the son. But officers today aren’t encouraging kids and grandkids to go into this profession. If they do, it’s rare.
“We need to get back to where people want to go into law enforcement,” he said. “I don’t know how we will get there. I wish I had the answer. If I did, I could make a lot of money off of it because everybody is struggling. We are getting enough to staff and rehire, but just not what we used to.”
Bolin said nine of the department’s vacancies in 2025 occurred when officers were asked to resign—some were rookies, and some more seasoned officers.
“A lot of what we’ve had over the last year is weeding people out,” he said. “In not getting the number of applicants that we want, we’ve taken some chances on new hires that maybe we wouldn’t have 10 years ago. However, we’re paying attention, and we’re catching it. We’re not going to allow somebody who shouldn’t be out on the street be out on the street.
“So, in the training process, if we find that someone shouldn’t be a patrolman, that’s when we call them in and offer them a chance to resign. We do want quality officers, and we aren’t going to accept the ‘less than.’ Again, we’ve given people the opportunity to come in and prove themselves because we haven’t had the number of applicants as in the past, and we need officers.”
Bolin recalled one of the situations which prompted an officer’s separation from HPD. “There was a case of an officer who was consistently late,” Bolin said. “The officer was counseled and disciplined multiple times, but the behavior didn’t change. Finally, in a staff meeting one of the lieutenants said, ‘How long are we going to let this go? When are we finally going to do something?’ I said, ‘Guys we’re short officers. The lieutenant said, ‘I can’t keep going to roll call and looking my troops in the face and watching this officer continue to walk in late when he’s been told over and over … it makes us look bad.’ So, we made a tough decision on that one.”
Many of the vacancies which occurred this year, Bolin said, “are self-inflicted, but I think we have a better department because of it. And the other officers have been behind us. They aren’t upset that we’ve asked some of the officers to move on. We’re trying to get a top-notch department.”
While an overall answer to the crisis facing law enforcement appears illusive, Bolin and Shoultz said at least in Kentucky a return to a pension system might help.
“I would prefer it to be a more traditional pension (instead of a non-traditional 401K), I think that would help with some of the retention issues. I think it would encourage people to stay,” Bolin said.
According to state news outlets, as of Jan. 1, 2014, Kentucky implemented a Tier 3 plan for hazardous and non-hazardous duty employees.
A non-traditional 401K, the Kentucky Public Pensions Authority explained, “The Tier 3 Cash Balance Plan is known as a ‘hybrid’ plan because it has characteristics of both a defined contribution plan and a defined benefit plan. Members and employers contribute a specified amount into the member’s account. That account earns a guaranteed four percent at the end of each fiscal year.”
In addition, the Tier 3 fund can be transferred to another company’s 401K plan should a person find other employment.
Shoultz said under the previous retirement system “if you started here, you’d have to stay here or stay in Kentucky (to get your retirement.) When (Chief Bolin) left here and went to EPD he had to cash it out. That assisted in keeping people from running across state lines.
“Now, you’re a free agent,” he said.
“You can take your 401K and go because there is no pension. If we brought the pension system back, even a modified version, it would be helpful because then an officer is building toward something instead of their own 401K which they hope carries them through retirement. Some of these young people don’t look that far down the road, but some of them do.”
In addition to a mobile retirement plan, there’s another obstacle facing law enforcement.
“We’re all taking from each other,” Bolin said. “If we hear of an officer not happy somewhere else, we reach out to him or her … We’ll invite them to Henderson to have lunch or whatever we can do to get him/her here. There’s a lot of that going on right now.”
“Last year we had Evansville Police Chief Phil Smith and Vanderburgh County Sheriff Noah Robinson over here for lunch, and Sheriff Chip Stauffer was there. A former HPD officer was interested in coming back and he was talking to Bob and I. Chief Smith and Sheriff Robinson were chiming in with ‘Hey we pay this!’ and I said, ‘You guys shut up, we’re on this side of the bridge.’
“We did manage to get that officer back, but they were trying to steal from me while they were having lunch with me,” Chief Bolin said. “That’s the environment we’re in right now. Sheriff Robinson has a billboard here in Henderson advertising open positions in Vanderburgh County. I get it. We are all short, and we’re all trying to figure out ways to make ourselves stand out.”
While Henderson County Sheriff Chip Stauffer said his department is currently fully staffed and not facing retention issues, it’s a different story for the Kentucky State Police.
Trooper Corey King, public information officer with Post 16 in Henderson, said recruitment of new troopers remains steady. However, retention challenges are ongoing. An average class of new cadets runs between 70 and 80, he said, adding that often less than half make it to graduation. “We have a high dropout rate due to the rigorous academy,” he said.
“Retention among those who make it to graduation is good, but not as good as it used to be.”
King said a continued stumbling block for keeping new and seasoned troopers is the lack of a set pension system.
“Retention was better under the old pension system because it was specific to law enforcement, and not portable like the (Tier 3) 401K type plan. Therefore, we do have more jump ship than we did 20 years ago,” King said.
While the state legislature did approve a “historic” and sizable pay increase in 2022 to help with retention, he said, there are still policing agencies—not to mention private companies—that pay more.
(According to area news outlets, KSP was one of the lowest paying agencies in the state before a $15,000 pay raise was given, bringing starting pay from $40,000 to $55,000.)
“Many departments are increasing salaries to compete with other agencies to recruit and retain,” King said.
Henderson isn’t unique
After learning of the deficit of sworn officers locally, the Hendersonian contacted surrounding communities to see if Henderson officers were leaving for nearby agencies. Madisonville Police Department Maj. Jason McKnight said within the last five years, MPD has hired only two officers from Henderson—one of which has since returned to HPD.
McKnight said the department—which is comparable in size to Henderson—has “a fairly good” retention rate. “Retirements make up the vast majority of vacancies we get,” he said.
“The other reasons for leaving vary,” McKnight said. “Several left to join federal agencies such as the Secret Service, FBI and DEA. Sometimes a spouse getting a new job in a different area causes them to leave. We have one officer who left for another agency and came back a few months later.”
McKnight said one way that MPD has helped to interest people in law enforcement as a profession is by simple conversation.
“The best recruitment tool we have is our people. We have been able to hire a large amount of the laterals I mentioned earlier by word of mouth,” he said.
In Daviess County, the Owensboro Police Department reports hiring one officer from Henderson within the last five years. OPD Sgt. Mark Hammonds agreed with Bolin and Shoultz that there is a deficit of sworn officers across the country, although not currently a problem for the Owensboro Police Department.
“We can’t speculate why officers leave the department and seek employment elsewhere, but there does appear to be a struggle for law enforcement across the nation with hiring and retaining officers,” he said. “What we can say is that our application numbers are up, and we believe that’s because the Owensboro Police Department has our own police academy here locally to fully train and equip a brand-new officer.”
As for the Evansville Police Department, Sgt. Anthony Aussieker said the agency hasn’t hired any officers from HPD within the last five years. However, this Indiana department is facing the same staffing obstacle as HPD and countless other law enforcement agencies.
“This is an overwhelming trend for law enforcement everywhere,” he said.
When officers leave EPD, he said, “There are a variety of reasons given … not the job they thought it was, poor work schedule, no take home vehicle, going to an agency closer to their family/hometown, salary.”
The Hendersonian subsequently contacted the Department of Criminal Justice Training in Richmond (the police academy) asking if within the last five years the agency has seen fewer recruits attend.
Representatives were also asked what were the reasons given by a person who quits the academy prior to graduation.
The department did not answer either of those questions.
The DOCJT, however, did provide data that touted a 41 percent increase in the number of graduates comparing the years 2020 and 2025.
In 2020, 230 officers graduated from the police academy while 326 graduated in 2025, according to officials.
Among the efforts to equip and train existing and new law enforcement officers, funding was approved for the Western Kentucky Law Enforcement Training Facility in Madisonville, which opened in February, according to Critley Smith-King, public information officer for the DOCJT. “For the first time ever, this facility is allowing the commonwealth to provide basic training for new officers in two places at once.
Additionally, in April, we opened the Jody Cash Multipurpose Training Facility in Richmond, a state-of-the-art facility which delivers advanced training to officers.”
Recruitment continues
While the struggle isn’t with HPD alone, Bolin and Shoultz said they continue to advocate policing as a profession and interview quality candidates for the vacant positions.
“I don’t think we’re in dire straits at this moment, and we do still have people applying. I think we’re going to be ok,” Bolin said. “We still get good candidates, just not many. However, that’s everywhere.”
Shoultz said the department is in pursuit of lateral transfers.
“These are officers who might be looking to make a change from another department,” he said. “Those guys can hit the ground running because they’ve been through the academy. The city also offers a bonus for a lateral move. It varies depending on years of experience and training, but it’s up to $15,000.”
Another incentive to become a Henderson police officer, Bolin said, is a take-home vehicle. After finishing the probationary period, each officer is allotted a take home vehicle.
As part of HPD’s recruitment strategy, he said, the department is using social media to advertise openings.
However, much like the Madisonville Police Department has discovered, Bolin said the recruiting tool which seems to be most effective is “word of mouth.”
“During a seminar I attended, an instructor said that they’re finding that one-on-one conversations are having a great impact on recruiting officers.
“That’s something I’m trying to get our officers to buy into,” he said, adding that the department has already seen some success with this measure.
“That’s how I see us getting people in the door.”
