Editorial: Jails, police departments need to address losses in leadership

It’s hard to fill empty jobs when even the people on top are leaving.

For years, the corrections field and police departments have faced challenges in keeping staff numbers up. Even before the coronavirus pandemic created a widespread upheaval in hiring across many industries, turnover and unfilled positions in these uniformed jobs were regular issues.

It has only escalated since 2020. In 2021, 3,000 people stopped working in corrections, followed by another 3,000 in 2022, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons. Allegheny and Westmoreland counties have struggled with filling openings. So has the state.

Westmoreland has addressed it with job fairs and by hiring a company not simply to advertise openings but also to seek candidates for necessary positions in the county prison and juvenile detention center. They will pay the company $5,000 per person who is successfully employed.

“We definitely have an urgent need for corrections officers,” Warden Bryan Kline said in November 2022, when he was advocating for $500 sign-on bonuses for new hires and $500 bonuses to existing employees for referrals.

One more position is open at the prison now. Kline resigned Monday in a last-minute prison board decision following a short executive session. Deputy Warden Steven Pelesky was appointed the interim replacement.

Kline, who became warden in January 2021 after the retirement of John Walton, isn’t going to another prison job. He is opting to pursue academia instead. He recently completed his doctorate.

This departure follows the announced retirement of Allegheny County Warden Orlando Harper last month. His last day on the payroll is Friday.

Police chiefs also have been shuffling. Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Harrison, Washington Township, Parks Township and Springdale have seen retirements. Allegheny Township Chief Duane Fisher’s resignation was accepted as he moves to helm the Mannheim Township, Lancaster County, department.

The government agencies trying to keep the rank-and-file positions filled rely on wardens and chiefs to make the departments places people want to work. People at the top jumping ship seems like an unfortunate signal to the troops.