Savannah leaders meet with police chief to discuss staffing issues

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Thursday Savannah leaders met with Police chief Lenny Gunther to discuss staffing issues.

Each alderman made sure to give their input on how best to move forward in keeping people safe.

As of now, there are 519 authorized police positions, with 98 vacant slots.

Police chief Lenny Gunther says they’re still turning down officers who don’t meet their standards.

Savannah mayor and former deputy sheriff Van Johnson agreed that the standard to be an officer needs to be high, and that it’s a job where they need to hire the right people.

Alderman Kurtis Purtee, Alderman District 6 — who is also a former deputy and police officer — made it known that these staffing issues aren’t just here in Savannah.

“Nobody wants to this job these days, and coming from somebody who does the job it’s hard to improve the recruiting and the talent managing is a national issue right now,” said Purtee. “Every police department in the United States is dealing with it, so we have to think outside the box, be a little more innovative on what we have to do with our fine folks working at SPD.”

He also advocated for SPD and the city to put cameras in public parks, stating that those areas are where preventable crimes occur.

When addressing citizens who would complain, he reiterated that these parks are public, and that cameras would be used for safety, not for surveillance.

Chief Gunther also answered questions from Alderman Detric Leggett regarding the acid attack and what happened last month when police shot and killed a man on Bay Street. The chief says the acid investigation has not gone cold, and that the Bay Street shooting is under GBI’s investigation.