Officials from North Carolina's state law enforcement agencies told lawmakers Thursday that their agencies need funding for salary increases and additional staff to cope with increasing demands.
Speaking in front of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety, leaders from N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation and the N.C. State Highway Patrol told legislators that their salaries are falling behind those of municipal counterparts across the state.
That is causing positions to stay open for longer, agency heads said, hindering their ability to provide the services the General Assembly calls upon them to deliver. Leaders of all three agencies called for increases in starting salaries, which were last increased when the state passed its most recent comprehensive budget in 2023.
Colonel Freddy Johnson, the state's Highway Patrol commander, said his agency has typically tracked the 25 highest-paying law enforcement agencies to benchmark its own salaries. Now, he said, all of those plus about a dozen others pay more for a beginning law enforcement officer and for their highest-paid officer than his own agency does.
"These cities across the state see market value in a law enforcement officer, and they're fixing these salaries. And this is where we are now, and I can tell you, as the Colonel, I'm highly disappointed in that," Johnson said.
Highway Patrol
Right now, there are 220 vacant Highway Patrol trooper positions, Johnson told lawmakers.
"We're losing people. ... We can't keep allowing this to happen," Johnson said, noting that one trooper is headed to the Florida Highway Patrol, while five others have submitted their paperwork to go work for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
The Highway Patrol enforces traffic laws on roads across North Carolina, but the agency also includes the State Capitol Police and investigates vehicle and identity theft.
State Highway Patrol troopers earn $55,000 when they start. That's the second-lowest starting salary in the country, agency officials told lawmakers on Thursday, also lagging behind the starting salaries of 30 local North Carolina law enforcement agencies that were polled.
Many statewide law enforcement agencies in other states made significant salary raises in response to anti-law enforcement sentiments after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. North Carolina did not make such a significant raise.
"What we lose when we don't pay the right kind of salaries and bring in the right folks is, we lose that professionalism and that discipline that we bring to chaos," Johnson said.
The top salary for troopers is $80,252. That is 45th in the country and lags well behind the median top salary of about $102,000.
"We're mandated to be out there 24 hours a day. That means a first shift, a second shift and a third shift. That means weekends and holidays. And that's a tough sell in the environment that we're in now, especially for the salaries that we're dealing with," Johnson said.
Johnson also noted that when Tennessee was losing troopers earlier this decade, he shared a revamped pay plan he'd proposed in North Carolina with his counterpart there. It was quickly adopted by the Tennessee legislature and, Johnson said, positions rapidly filled up.
"We have got to fix this. I'm glad I was able to help Tennessee," Johnson said.
Johnson also said that civilian salaries at the Highway Patrol are falling behind, causing 100% turnover at the agency's Raleigh call center. That call center covers a 42-county region.
When legislators were able to ask questions, Rep. Charlie Miller, R-Brunswick, homed in on the call center turnover piece.
"That's the lifeline of a trooper or a deputy or a police officer. So please, let's talk offline as we come back in April, and let's try to fix that," said Miller, a former chief deputy in the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office.
Additionally, Johnson said that funding from positions that are remaining vacant is now being used to pay for operational costs because so many of the agency's expenses have risen by about 50% over the past dozen years, while its budget has remained relatively flat.
The agency intentionally keeps 113 of its 161 vacancies that have lasted at least six months unfilled in order to pay for fuel and other expenses, N.C. State Auditor Dave Boliek found in a report earlier this year. By doing so, it saves about $7 million that can be spent elsewhere.
What did budget proposals say?
Republican leaders in both the N.C. Senate and N.C. House of Representatives proposed increasing law enforcement salaries in their budget proposals last year.
The Senate's budget proposal, introduced in April, proposed:
- A 6.5% increase for most sworn officers from the Highway Patrol, ALE and SBI. Some ALE and SBI officers would have received 10%raises because they were being added to the law enforcement salary schedule.
- A salary adjustment of 1.5% for most other state employees.
About a month later, the House's proposal suggested raising salaries by:
- About 4.73% for State Highway Patrol troopers.
- About 4.49% for sworn staff at ALE and the SBI.
- 2.5% for most other state employees.
Changes to salary schedules would have meant:
- The starting salary for State Highway Patrol officers going from $55,000 to $58,575 under the Senate proposal and $57,602 under the House's. It would remain the second-lowest in the country under the House proposal and fourth-lowest under the Senate's.
- Top salaries for troopers would have increased from $80,252 to $85,468 under the Senate proposal and $84,048 under the House proposal. Those both would increase North Carolina from the 45th-highest top salary at a highway patrol agency in the country to the 42nd-highest.
- Starting salaries for sworn officers at the SBI and ALE would go from $53,477 to $56,953 under the Senate proposal and $55,878 under the House proposal.
- Top salaries for sworn officers at the SBI and ALE would go from $78,033 to $83,105 under the Senate proposal and $81,537 under the House proposal.
Ultimately, leaders in the House and Senate were unable to resolve several key budget impasses. No progress on budget talks is expected until lawmakers return in April at the earliest, following March's primary elections.
That means salary schedules enacted in 2023, the last time the General Assembly passed a comprehensive budget, will carry several months into 2026 at the earliest.
SBI vacancies
N.C. State Bureau of Investigations Director Chip Hawley said his agency is not competitive with local agencies but is also falling behind Highway Patrol and the ALE.
"As local law enforcement agencies increases salaries, we are falling further behind and are unable to remain competitive," Hawley said.
The SBI’s purview includes investigating officer-involved shootings, investigating Internet crimes against children and managing the state’s bomb squad. It also conducts criminal background checks and operates state law enforcement’s fusion center.
The SBI is not able to increase its salaries via the Labor Market Adjustment Reserve fund, Hawley said, meaning it is also falling behind the ALE and the Highway Patrol.
There is a 22.5% vacancy rate among the agency's non-sworn personnel, Hawley told lawmakers, including a nearly 30% vacancy rate among the agency's Criminal Identification and Identification personnel.
Alcohol Law Enforcement
Over the last four years, 63 of the 111 sworn law enforcement positions in North Carolina's Alcohol Law Enforcement agency have turned over, director Bryan House told lawmakers.
Like the leaders of other agencies, House said he is confident that most of those people are leaving for higher salaries in other law enforcement agencies. The agency's starting salary is $53,477, lagging behind similar jobs in neighboring states.
"We are training ALE agents to go be investigators at local police departments and sheriff's offices," House said.
ALE enforces the state’s alcohol laws at both legal and illegal establishments, while also investigating the hemp industry and gambling.
Experienced ALE staff face an additional burden, House said, because the agency turns to them to train new employees, in addition to performing the duties they are already called upon.
"I can tell you, I'm wearing our staff out by doing that training," House said.
