Headlines from around the web regarding hiring, assessment and other human resource issues in public safety.

Staffing concerns taking toll on Mo. prisons

CorrectionsOne

Gary Gross, director of the Missouri Corrections Officers Association, said inmate tensions are growing across the state over restrictions that stem from staff shortages, the News Tribune reported. Currently, there are about 700 open starting-level corrections officer positions statewide.

“In some institutions, they’re using non-correctional staff to work as corrections officers,” Gross said.

Baltimore Police assign 115 extra officers to patrol the streets in hopes of curbing overtime spending, crime

Baltimore Sun

Front-line patrol officers are regularly referred to as the “backbone” of the police department, but commanders have struggled to fill shifts, forcing them to draft officers into overtime work. That costs money and leaves officers exhausted.

The reassignments come as the City Council has announced plans to more carefully scrutinize the department’s overtime spending.

Yuma Police Department faces critical officer shortage

KYMA News

The Yuma Police Department is faced with a major police officer shortage after losing nearly 40 officers to higher-paying agencies over the last three years.

“We’re losing our officers to other agencies who are offering these incentives,” Chief John Lekan said. “Offering higher pay, unfortunately, maybe even offering a little more community.”

According to Chief Lekan, those losses have critically affected the Yuma Police Department.

Heroes of Public Safety Highlight

Star Spangled Summer Hero: police officers buy shoes for barefoot man

WBIR News

“When the initial call came in, they thought he was intoxicated. When I got up there, I realized he wasn’t under the influence. He didn’t have shoes. It was 90 plus degrees that day, so the ground was hot,” Gibson recalled.

Shoeless, friendless, and homeless, Gibson says the man said he was heading south where he heard the people were nicer. But, on that hot highway in Rogersville, he met one of the nicest.