Petersburg, Virginia, Sheriff Vanessa Crawford, who was sworn in as the city’s first female sheriff in 2005. The City of Petersburg is one of just a few communities in the country that has a sheriff’s office and a police department in the same jurisdiction. She is currently in her fifth term and also serves as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Small & Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association. Crawford spoke to OFFICER Magazine about budget and management challenges faced by small law enforcement agencies.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
This article appeared in the March/April issue of OFFICER Magazine. Click Here to subscribe to OFFICER Magazine.What budget challenges do you face?
I don’t think we’re unlike any small agency. Because, in Virginia, most sheriff’s offices are funded by the Virginia Compensation Board, most of our funding comes from them. As a result, the city does fund us with certain items per the Code of Virginia. However, they don’t fund everything. They do fund the police department 100%, but because we are partially funded by the compensation board, the city does not fund us for everything that we need in our office. We do have most of the essential equipment, either funded by the compensation board or by the city, but there are things that we do need that we don’t always get a shot at initially without some constant prying, such as vehicles and updated computers.
Do you vie for the same funds and applicants pool as the city’s police department?
The compensation board funds several of my positions, but the other positions that I have are funded by the city. So, by the fact that the police department is 100% funded by them, they get the most attention. In our jurisdiction, the city does support us with a supplement, which we are very grateful for, but it still does not bring us up to par with the police department. The police department starts off with a person who has no experience in police work at $53K and you get a $10K signing bonus. If you bring experience, you will sign on at a little over $70K with a $20K signing bonus. We’re not able to provide bonuses, and most small agencies are not. We also don’t have the same starting pay. When you are next door to an agency that can provide these large bonuses, and you’re struggling to hire the same people, it really becomes a challenge with retention and recruitment.
What ways have you found to recruit deputies and bring in more funds?
I try to create incentives to make our staff want to stay and I also try to make sure that they understand that while money is important, especially when you are trying to pay a house note and feed your family, it’s not everything. They city has allowed us to provide some bonuses based on some vacancies that I’ve had, which has allowed us to keep some people. Just creating a work environment that is conducive to wanting to be here as opposed to needing to be here to work. I also take my staff to national and state conferences where there are many vendors that provide resources to different agencies. By allowing them to do that, they can see what the vendors offer and if they come back and we have a conversation about something that they saw at the conference, if we can in any way fit in the budget, then we do so and I always give credit to the person who brought it to me.
How do budget challenges hinder your ability as a law enforcement executive?
Anytime that I can have a conversation with our city manager, I do. We needed to purchase TASERs a few years ago. We did not have it in our budget, and it was a very expensive item. But, because he realized there was an essential need for those items, our city made a way to provide those items for us. It can be very exhausting to continuously ask for resources that are essential to your operation. Particularly when you are in a community that has a police department and you see all of the resources that they are provided, but when you request some of the same things, because we’re tasked to do a lot of the same duties as they are, you get a little push back. It does affect morale and that’s a challenge, keeping my deputies’ morale up, but I always tell them “Hang on, I’m going to stay positive, and we’re going to get through it.” I just feel that God provides for us when we need it, and we’ll get it. I have such an awesome staff. They are experienced, they are talented and they are very loyal.
Learn more about the Small & Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association at https://smallrural.org
Listen to the full interview at officer.com/53028153
This article appeared in the March/April issue of OFFICER Magazine.
