A few weeks into his tenure as the Cobb public safety director, Mike Register was blunt about one of the biggest obstacles his department faces, perhaps as much as the salary and retention concerns that have been expressed in recent months.

Perceptions do matter, and they matter a lot, Register said in remarks earlier this week to the East Cobb Business Association.

“Somehow, we have got to make public safety cool again to our young people,” he said.

Part of the reference was to salaries and benefits, as Cobb salaries lag other jurisdictions in metro Atlanta and the county struggles to fill openings.

But he also mentioned a social media environment rife with critical comments about those in law enforcement, in particular after police shootings.

“The whole is being vilified for the sake of the few,” Register said. “Those in uniform are committed. Somehow we have to communicate that.”

He was drawn to a law enforcement career after being kidnapped as a teenager in Macon. The police officers who worked to free him kept in touch after his release.

“They checked on me, they worried about me,” Register said. “Today is a different time,” a reference to trends he’s seeing that “less and less of our young people want to be in law enforcement.”

Formerly the Cobb Police Chief, Register has taken on an expanded role overseeing police, fire, emergency management, 911 and animal services in a department with around 2,000 employees.

Much of that time has been spent hearing out those who have been vocal in urging Cobb commissioners to pay and support them better.

Last month, commissioners approved a one-time bonus of $1,475 for selected police, fire and sheriff’s employees with good performance evaluations.

The move was considered a first step toward a more comprehensive approach to hiring, keeping and encouraging public safety employees.

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Steven Gaynor, head of the Cobb Fraternal Order of Police, said he’s glad Register is “fighting for us” and especially since he now has a direct line to commissioners.

Chairman Mike Boyce has proposed a seven-percent pay raise for public safety employees, but Gaynor said he’ll feel better when he “sees a plan” for a step-and-grade hiring and pay raise program—similar to what teachers get in Cobb County schools—that he thinks will go a long way toward solving lingering problems.

Register said “it’s no secret in Cobb that we’ve been struggling” to bring up salaries and address retention and benefits concerns. He said he’s hopeful commissioners will address the salary boost this year, and then the step-and-grade program for the 2021 fiscal year budget.

Gaynor said it’s “made a big difference” for citizens to speak out on issues that he and others have been raising for years.

One of them is Susan Hampton, who coordinates Cobb public safety appreciation dinners put on by the East Cobb Business Association. In comments before commissioners this spring, she had been asking for a 10-percent pay raise and step-and-grade in the upcoming 2020 budget.

She acknowledges the seven-percent raise this year and step-and-grade for next year is a more realistic scenario.

Hampton also said after Tuesday’s ECBA luncheon she was encouraged by Register’s appointment, as he is a “common voice” for public safety employees. “He’s got their backs.”

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Cobb Police Chief Mike Register has been tapped by County Manager Rob Hosack to become the county’s new public safety director.

Hosack will formally present his recommendation Tuesday to the Cobb Board of Commissioners (read his letter to the board here).

Register, who has been police chief since May 2017, was recommended from a group of four individuals to succeed Sam Heaton, a former Cobb fire chief who retired last month.

Register, a retired military veteran who served with Cobb PD for 19 years and later was the the Clayton County Police Chief, is a doctoral candidate in public policy.

Among his initiatives since returning to Cobb include beefing up community-based policing, with a community officer in each of the five police precincts, and holding occasional meetings with faith and other community leaders in the county.

The change at the top of the department comes as commissioners have been pressed by public safety personnel and citizens to improve salary, benefits, retention and other initiatives to address staffing shortages some have said has reached crisis proportions.

Understaffed police and fire services also are among of the primary factors behind the ongoing East Cobb cityhood movement, and are two of the proposed three services included in a bill that will be taken up next year in the Georgia legislature.

At recent commissioners’ meetings, those pushing for more staffing have noted that all five Cobb police precincts have shortages on their patrol “beats.” East Cobb’s Precinct 4 has only eight of 10 beats fully staffed, the least-staffed of all, according to Cobb Fraternal Order of Police head Steven Gaynor.

Cobb currently has 82 police officer openings, and is on pace to lose 100 officers this year. That’s how many applications come in every week, but only a quarter or so of them make the first cut.

Other shortages are in fire/EMS and sheriff’s deputies positions.

The public safety director oversees those functions, along with the county’s 911 dispatch service, emergency management agency and animal services.

In a draft fiscal year 2020 budget proposal released last week, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce has included recruitment bonuses for public safety, but has decided against budgeting for 40 new police officer and 40 new sheriff’s deputy positions.

Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb told those gathered at a town hall meeting last month that he’s opposed to filling the public safety director’s post, and prefers each of those agency heads to report to the county manager, as has been done in the past.

Ott was the only commissioner voting against Register for police chief, saying he objected to the selection process and not the candidate.

Proponents of more public safety staffing and better salaries are planning to speak out again at Tuesday’s meeting. It starts at 7 p.m. in the second floor boardroom of the Cobb office building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

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