By TIM CARPENTER
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — The Kansas Highway Patrol said Wednesday the state agency continued to struggle with recruitment and retention of qualified law enforcement officers despite the 30% raise in base salary for newer troopers implemented last year by the Legislature and Gov. Laura Kelly.
Capt. Mitch Clark told state senators the KHP was competing with police and sheriff departments in urban centers in Kansas and law enforcement agencies in neighboring states.
Nationally, he said, the applicant pool was diminished, training classes where smaller, and retention of young troopers and people eligible for retirement persisted. The economy, COVID-19, the “great resignation” and negative news coverage contributed to staffing woes, he said.
“We are all fishing out of the same pond that’s drying up, that’s more shallow,” Clark said. “This is a national crisis.”
In 2022, the state raised the wage for troopers with less than three years of experience from $21.13 per hour to $27.61 per hour — an adjustment the captain said was a “huge” benefit to the agency.
Clark told the Senate Transportation Committee the KHP had 52 trooper vacancies based on budget authorization for employment of 478 troopers. The 10.9% shortage left KHP with 426 troopers in uniform to serve the state’s public safety interests. In the past decade, under leadership of three different KHP superintendents, the agency reported averages of 430 to 456 uniformed personnel.
The KHP graduated 15 people from training programs in 2022 and the current recruiting class included 11 members, he said.
“That’s not going to sustain us. It’s not getting us there,” Clark said. “It’s not going to cover those that we have already preparing to retire in the next few years.”
He said KHP modified entrance requirements to accept applicants with tattoos, under the condition the ink was covered by clothing. KHP changed policy to accept recruits who had experimented with illegal drugs. There are limits to how much KHP could amend personnel policy to entice people, he said.
“One of the things we cannot and are not ever going to consider is lowering our standards,” Clark said.
KHP does require applicants to have a high school diploma or GED and be 21 years of age by the time they graduate from the academy, but the state agency didn’t require college attendance or diplomas of applicants.
Senators on the committee didn’t raise questions about ongoing lawsuits and other legal controversies involving current and former KHP administrators. There were no questions about an inquiry authorized by the governor into whether KHP pilots misused state funds by deploying aircraft for personal reasons or to complete advanced flight training unnecessary for service in the law enforcement agency.
There has been discussion among state legislators about transferring administrative oversight of KHP from the governor to the attorney general. In addition, the Kansas State Troopers Association recommended a change in leadership at the highest levels of KHP, including Superintendent and Col. Herman Jones. He was appointed by Kelly in 2019 when former Col. Mark Bruce was forced to resign.
Sen. Kelli Warren, a Leawood Republican and chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said legislation was under development that would amend state law to enable law enforcement agencies to exchange information about unsuccessful applicants.
“The jurisdictions don’t have any ability to talk to each other about background checks,” Warren said. “There is legislation coming forward that would help address that. Is that something that would be helpful in your mind?”
“I do see the need for that,” the KHP captain said. “I don’t know any agency out there that wouldn’t want to have all the information available to make the best decision before they swear that person in.”