Port Royal police have bigger hiring woes than money

While low salaries likely explain the reason several local police agencies are willing to hire officers who have been fired from previous jobs, it doesn't explain what's happening in Port Royal.

The police department, which had 24 officers at the time of The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette's analysis, has raised its starting salary from $30,532 to $37,700 during the past 10 years.

And yet it is still taking risks on officers with checkered pasts. Six officers -- 25 percent of the force -- were previously fired from an S.C. law enforcement job or resigned while facing disciplinary action.

Recently, community members have raised questions over the department's ability to work the few big cases it gets.

 Last week, Port Royal resident Joel Iacopelli and his wife sued the town and one of its officers, alleging Iacopelli was wrongfully arrested on charges of child molestation earlier this year. A judge has already thrown out the charges against Iacopelli.

 

Port Royal police officers made "egregious" mistakes in executing warrants outside their jurisdiction, said Jared Newman, Iacopelli's lawyer, and they made a "rush to judgment" after ignoring evidence in Iacopelli's favor.

The department suffered another blow last month when it fired officer George Rioux, who was accused of making unwanted sexual advances toward an acquaintance in his patrol car. Rioux was hired in Port Royal despite having previously resigned from the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office after being accused of falsifying a sworn statement.

The chief and town manager defend the department's work but acknowledge it struggles to hang onto officers.

"We're a small agency, so the turnover's definitely a concern," Port Royal Police Chief Alan Beach said. "Sometimes the officers just use us for -- not a stepping stone -- but they get their two years' experience and then they decide maybe the small agency is not for them."

Officials add that the department's highest ranks are held by longtime department veterans, making it difficult for lower ranking officers to advance in their careers.

"If you're looking to advance, the probability of it happening in Port Royal is probably smaller than it is in a much larger department, where there may be more sergeants, more lieutenants, more captains," said town manager Van Willis. "In essence, you may hit a ceiling."

One former Port Royal officer, who asked not to be identified, quit over receiving a starting officer's salary despite joining Port Royal after several years at another local agency. Additionally, the department had antiquated, minimal policies on everything from use of force to car chases, the officer claimed.

Beach said the department's policies are now modeled after national standards, and he defended the department's pay scale, which starts nearly every officer on the ground level regardless of experience.

"It makes them earn their stripes and kind of makes them want to stick around," Beach said. "And also for our officers, they're not intimidated, say, if they've been here for five years and we hire someone as a corporal, no knowledge of the town or how we operate."

"It just makes everybody happy," he said.

He conceded the department's reputation was deeply tarnished following two-high profile incidents about a decade ago.

"It's taken us years to recover from that, and I think we've done a pretty good job," Beach said. "Every once in awhile, somebody will bring it up, but nowhere near like it used to be."

First, an officer was fired for stepping on a suspect's back and threatening to "blow (him) away." The ensuing legal battle took years to untangle. The next year, 2006, the department launched a separate internal investigation into another officer's alleged involvement in an illegal poker operation and never released the results.

Other local agencies have faced periodic lawsuits and waves of turnover too.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said, when he took office in 1999, he learned that about 100 employees had left their jobs during the previous three years.

"The turnover was largely because of negative retention and salaries, no promotional opportunities and absolutely zero morale," he said. "The morale was at a rock bottom."

But improvements at the Sheriff's Office have turned things around in a way Port Royal has yet to see.

Beach said he's at a loss for why his department can't shake the negative incidents.

"We hire who we think are going to make good officers," he said. "Some make it; some don't.

"I just don't know what the fix for it is."

Follow reporter Rebecca Lurye at twitter.com/IPBG_Rebecca.

Related content:

• Beaufort man charged in flawed church molestation case sues Port Royal, DSS, January 7, 2016
• Port Royal police officer fired over alleged sexual harassment, January 6, 2016
• Beaufort's Iacopelli blasts police, says he was wrongly arrested, trying to rebuild life, November 2, 2015

This story was originally published January 16, 2016 at 7:27 PM with the headline "Port Royal police have bigger hiring woes than money."