(The Center Square) — The Shreveport Police Department is seeking to fill seven open positions at the city jail with a starting salary of $36,000.
The Center Square spoke with Shreveport PD Cpl. Chris Bordelon about where the funding for these positions is coming from.
Bordelon said the current positions were already approved and funded from their existing budget.
“While these roles were previously accounted for, recent retirements and resignations have created vacancies,” said Bordelon. “The funding for these positions is allocated on an annual basis and has already been included in our budget planning.”
The police department budget for 2025 is $74.5 million, which includes around $3 million in state funds. A summary of full-time authorized positions for the police department shows 637, with 38 administration, 173 support roles, 308 uniform services and 118 investigations. The $74.5 million budget breaks down to $16.7 million for police administration, $14.7 million for support, $33.1 million for operations and $9.9 million for investigations.
The budget authorizes 28 jailers I positions, six jailer II positions, three jailer III positions, and one jail superintendent, totaling 38 civil service correction roles.
Supervisor Jasimaine Taylor, a 16-year Shreveport Police jailer, spoke to The Center Square about the increasing need for more jailers as current employees begin to retire.
“Our training is basically on-the-job training,” said Taylor. “Once you pass the hiring process, they bring you into the jail and we do on-the-job training inside the jail, and then we will send you to a 92-hour correctional training.”
Taylor, originally from Bossier City, began her career in Shreveport as a jailer in 2009 and received her promotion to jailer II supervisor in 2022.
Caddo Parish frequently experiences overcapacity in its jail, causing Shreveport to house some of its inmates.
“Especially in our jail, we are very understaffed. Our jail count is not as high as it used to be when I first started, but with us helping Caddo sometimes with theirs being overcrowded,” said Taylor. “That means we still need some staffing to be able to maintain.”
The current budget authorizes 28 jailer I positions, and while the seven in need of urgent filling right now won’t get them to the 28 desired, it will be a start.
Starting jailers make around $3,000 a month with nine paid holidays, 18 vacation days after completion of their first year and other benefits.
“Since I’ve been here, my motto has always been ‘Never a boring day.’ Something is going to happen here. Something is going to keep you up. Something’s going to keep you going,” said Taylor.
The department is looking to fill these spots immediately with qualified applicants.
