GROVETOWN, Ga. (WJBF) – Grovetown City Council wants to recommend adopting a State Retirement System for all Georgia Law Enforcement Officers. Mayor Pro Tem Eric Blair was the one to bring this to the council’s attention.
“South Carolina started theirs in 1952, Alabama started theirs in 1945, Mississippi they’ve had one since 1958, and Georgia is one of the few states in the nation that do not have a state retirement plan. And I think that our legislation needs to consider that. So that’s the idea of this resolution,” said Eric Blair, Mayor Pro Tem, Grovetown City Council.
Right now, the Retirement plan in Georgia is based on various municipalities or county governments one works at, so there are no portable retirements allowing officers to carry over years of service to go from one job to another unless going from one that is a part of the Georgia Municipal Association.
“You have someone that starts at a local department and spends five or six years and then says, well, I want to go to the State patrol. Well, that’s five of six years that they’re not even going to get credit for. They’re going to have to start over again at the state patrol, or the GBI, or vice versa,” said Chief Jamey Kitchens, Grovetown Police Department.
Grovetown Chief of Police, Jamey Kitchens, told me the job is not only difficult in nature, but they want to have more incentive to bring in new officers and retain them.
“I’m just representative of many. I guess I’m just the loudmouth that got out here. Nobody should expect anybody to give forty years in this profession. With what it takes on you physically, mentally,” said Kitchens.
The motion was passed, and Grovetown will bring the resolution to state officials to show that they support this idea and encourage surrounding counties to do so as well.
