DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Outgoing DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond says the county needs to dramatically improve its retirement plans for police and fire departments to stop the decline in the number of officers on the street.
Thurmond sat down with Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne and said he’s not telling the next CEO and county commission what to do, but believes major changes need to be made.
“We have a pension, but its not a pension, quite frankly, that leaves us competitive with some of the other jurisdictions in metro Atlanta,” Thurmond said.
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He says dozens of police officer positions were added to the budget, but the county can’t fill the positions that they already had.
Thurmond says the county needs to return to the robust retirement plan they had before dramatic downsizing in 2005 and again in 2016.
“This is something we need to retain the good people that we’re training,” said Bob de Graaf, President of the DeKalb County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 10. “Going back to a similar pension to our original is an incredible recruiting tool for folks that are interested in a career. And more importantly, it’s an incredible retention tool.”
Thurmond says it’ll be costly and there’s not enough time to implement it before he leaves office at the end of the year.
As of July 8, there were 308 open police officer positions.
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“It’s a big budget number, I know that but public safety is our number one priority. We built a foundation,” Thurmond said.
He says since 2017, DeKalb County has increased funding for public safety by more than 43% including increasing pay for officers and giving them retention incentives.
“Last year, there was a 10% decrease in homicides and we’re tracking to have another decrease equal to that in 2024,” Thurmond said.
He says the men and women in uniform for DeKalb County have done a remarkable job and hopes that the incoming government will do what they can to finish the job and get them what they need.
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