Fact or Bull?

[GADNR130]

I was told by a fairly reliable source that Col. Hitchens went to the 86th Trooper school and advised the cadets they had three choices because there were no "Trooper" positions available to put them in when they graduate.

The three choices were as follows:

1. Work and be detached to MCCD.
2. Work and be detached to Capitol Police
3. Find you another job.

For those in the 86th, is this fact or bull?

Just curious.

[redhawk30540]

DNR130, Sadly its true! The gov. cut there budget again. I got the info myself yesterday. They are going to also ask for fielded troopers to transfer if they want to. I was not told Capital police was an option but it may be. Things just got worse for GSP and you guys too, it sucks and shouldn't be that way!! I was told there will not be another trooper school until JULY 2010 now which really sucks! I am very disappointed to be a georgian after all this has happened to wildlife resources and DPS.

[Macquaid]

What kind of cuts did they do to the Wildlife Resources and GSP? I know state agencies had to make cuts for the Govenors budget but Im not too familier with cuts outside my agency.

[GADNR130]

Right now we are not exacty sure what all of our cuts will be. There is talk that we will lose anywhere form 9 to 28 positions just within the LE section. Game management is slated to lose more than that, especially in NGA. They are proposing cutting all Wildlife management area that are on national forest lands, which will eliminate 16 filled positions.

I spoke with my local representative on a dove field opening day, sept 6 and he said it is not good at all, we just need to be able to get through this and hopefully things will get better.

I just hope they don't have to start cutting warm bodies from public safety whether it be GSP, GBI, DNR or any other agency.

I also heard that GSP has asked for 27 volunteers from their current workforce to volunteer into the MCCD and Capitol police so the cadets will have a place to go. So there is never a calm moment in State government.

Thank the Lord I have been on long enough and hopefully the cuts to personel won't make it to me.

[Narco]

makes me feel fortunate to work for a county gov that has money =) good luck to all you state guys. this really hurts us all.

[scuba4321]

This sucks! I hope you guys/gals the best. My department just got a little better....

[brownj21]

We (GBI) got hit pretty hard too.

I hadnt heard this yet about GSP. Sad news for those troopers.

[GADOC07]

I agree, it is extremely sad. GDC has been hit pretty hard too. I'm hitting all the surrounding county S.O's, but so are like 3500 other C.O's in GA, so jailer positions are tough to come by.

[SoGSWAT293]

Things arent quite as bleak as they appear on the GSP side...for the time being. The quote from the Colonel wasn't quite that threatening. The cadets were actually told that the Department needed 40 troopers to detatch to MCCD, 26 to Capital Police and 16 to the motorcycle unit. Those who volunteered would remain troopers, wear the uniform and drive the cars. Those who went to MCCD would be involved with a grant funded Commercial Motor vehicle unit which would specialize in tractor trailer enforcement. They would work primarily Mon-Fri on day shift. I think there was some type of shift perk with the Capital Police also. The Colonel told the cadets that we would attempt to fill these positions through volunteerism. However, those positions not filled would be filled by cadets. To ask a trooper to voluntarily detatch to MCCD or Capital PD sounds bad at first glance. However, how many opportunities will a slick sleeve trooper have in his career to work primarily dayshifts with weekends and holidays off? The last count I heard was that there were 80 volunteers wanting to go to MCCD. They are having a little more trouble filling the Capital slots but I'm sure once they decide who gets to go to MCCD, some of those will then put in for the Capital. There is a lot to be said for weekends and holidays off.