Warner Robins looking to hire nearly two dozen police officers

One of the challenges his department faces is a shortage of qualified candidates.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Warner Robins Chief of Police Wayne Fisher is a few people short of a fully-staffed police department.

“We have a few other vacancies that sit within the command line, the staff line, but we are viewing and considering a restructure in the organization, ” he said. “So those numbers could either remain or be decreased based upon the need of the restructure.”

Chief Fisher says since about 2014, law enforcement overall has experienced a shortage of officers.

“You have attrition rates that normally assign through retirement,” he said. “People that choose that this isn’t the job for them, family changes, geographical. We’re a military community, so we have members that their spouse is in the military, so when the spouse gets orders, the member moves with them.”

One of the challenges his department is facing is a shortage of qualified candidates.  He says over the last decade or so, there’s been a nationwide reduction in the actual staffing within organizations and stagnant wages.

“Fortunately for us in the City of Warner robins, we have a very supportive mayor and council, and I mean, very supportive,” he said. “They were very aggressive in trying to correct a lot of paid disparity issues across all city employees, and that was a big benefit to us as far as making us more competitive in the salary line through some of our agencies, plus what we have for benefits.”

Another benefit Chief Fisher highlighted besides competitive wages is that Warner Robins is a growing city and has a lot of diversity and culture.

“According to the 2020 censuses, if my memory serves me correct, we’re sitting in around 82, 83,000, and then you have the base population that comes up through, so we’re very much a growing community, and with that, we bring in a lot of cultural dynamics that add spice and flavor to our community that wasn’t there necessarily back 30 years ago,” he said.

If you’re interested in filling out an application for a Warner Robins Police Officer position, click here and go directly to the City of Warner Robins’ employment page.