New sheriff: Salaries, protection among biggest concerns
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) – Salaries, jail maintenance and civil service issues are among Troy Peterson’s top concerns in his second month as Harrison County’s sheriff.
Peterson told The Sun Herald Monday deputies will continue to leave the county for higher pay without a significant pay raise and the county will keep losing its $4,000 investment per officer in state-mandated training.
At his swearing-in ceremony Jan. 4, Peterson pledged to make his deputies the highest-paid deputies in the state by the end of his four-year term. Peterson now says he wants it to happen within two years.
Harrison County deputies are among the lowest-paid local law enforcement officers in the county.
Peterson says he believes the new county Board of Supervisors will see the wisdom of paying deputies an amount that will make them want to stay.
