By Angela Hatton
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-902756.mp3
Murray, KY – The Kentucky State Police's current employment rate is between 10 and 20 percent below capacity. With the commonwealth in tight budget times, the KSP is reintroducing retired police officers to the force. Angela Hatton reports on a retired officer who has found his way back on the agency.
Trooper Stephen Humphreys' workday has been pretty quiet so far. He began at 6 AM, patrolling the roads of Calloway County. Now he's teamed up with an officer from the Murray Police department to conduct a road check.
This is everyday police work. Humphreys writes one SUV driver a ticket for not wearing his seat belt, and gives another a warning for having expired tags. Then a compact blue car comes through the line, and Humphreys asks the driver to pull over to the side. She doesn't have insurance, and her license is suspended.
"And it may be a bench warrant, in which case we'll end up taking her to jail."
Humphreys does arrest the driver for not paying a ticket. He ends his time at the road check and drops the driver at Calloway County Jail.
Humphreys is older than the typical road trooper. He began in March as one of the first inductees into the Trooper R Program, a way to get retired KSP back into service. In many ways, this job is d j vu.
"So I actually come back doing the same job that I started with the agency."
When Humphreys retired, he had 22 years of experience and was a Captain in charge of Post 1, which covers the Purchase counties.
"I just kind of felt like I needed a bit of a brake. I wasn't even sure at that point that I was going to return to law enforcement. But after being off for three, three and a half years, I'm still interested in doing the work."
A total of eleven Trooper R's were sworn in at the same time as Humphreys. KSP Recruitment Branch Commander Harvey Baxter says even though they're older, these officers still have to meet high standards.
"They had to do the same physical fitness test as a guy who's just startin' off, whether he's 21, 51, or 61. You've got to do the same test."
But unlike cadets, who go through a 23-week training academy at a cost of over forty-thousand dollars per cadet, Trooper R's take a 40-hour refresher course at a minimal cost to the agency. Baxter says the program is also effective because it fills the KSP's ranks. Baxter says the state allots funding for 1,070 troopers.
"But we haven't reached that point, and we can't because of retirements. We can never get up to there to keep current staffing at maximum limits."
As of the middle of May, KSP employed 871 troopers, 200 fewer than they would like. Baxter says several more retirees have expressed interest in the Trooper R program. He expects to swear in more officers in July. Stephen Humphreys' contract expires June of next year. He has the chance to renew if he wants, and can work for a maximum of five years.
"In a perfect world, I'm going to work a year or two. Uh, pay off all my bills, be debt free, and I might even buy myself a toy or two along the ways."
When he says "toy," Humphrey is thinking about the land he owns, a new tractor, and devoting himself full time to farming.