Tech Police Department Struggling With Staffing

Tennessee Tech’s Police Department struggling to recruit as many officers as they need to properly handle the campus.

Chief Fred Nichols said they currently have eleven officers while surrounding departments that have historically been the same size are noticeably larger. Nichols said Tech’s force numbers went down because of the pandemic but they have struggled to recover because of the competition in the law enforcement industry.

“A lot of the times it’s pay,” Nichols said. “A lot of the times it is work schedule. Lot of the time it is benefits that go along with the positions and stuff. So you can really sit back now and if you really want a career you can sit back and kind of pick where you really want to go.”

Nichols said one of the main factors making competition so fierce has been the decline in the number of people who want to work in law enforcement. Nichols said they are required to work more events like football and basketball games outside of their regular shifts because of the limited personnel.

“You obviously want to make sure that they have enough time to relieve some stress and get that enjoyment out of daily life,” Nichols said.

Nichols said that having more officers would allow them to get more involved in the Tech community outside of routine patrol and safety operations. Nichols said they changed their schedule from eight hour shifts to twelve hours shifts to incentivize potential new officers with more flexibility.

“You hear twelve hours shifts so that means more work, but also it also gives them some more time at home,” Nichols said. “So that’s one of the big benefits and that’s what a lot of the officers here in the department wanted.”

Nichols shared his concerns with the Tech Board of Trustees at the fall meeting.