RALEIGH — Customized child care for law enforcement may be coming to North Carolina if a pilot program offered by the National Law Enforcement Foundation receives funds from the General Assembly.
The National Law Enforcement Foundation (NLEF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting law enforcement personnel by addressing recruitment and retention challenges through specialized child care and early childhood education services.
NLEF focuses on alleviating the unique demands of police work, such as irregular shifts on nights, weekends and holidays, which often conflict with standard child care options.
Retired San Diego Det. Jim Mackay, the cofounder and CEO of NLEF, told North State Journal the group got its start through a grant in California, leading to the formation of NLEF to bring the model to other states.
“I retired in the fall of ’21, and then the group that was doing it in San Diego created the National Law Enforcement Foundation to be able to take the model that was built in San Diego and move it across the country,” Mackay said.
Mackay said in the last year and a half the group opened a center in Missouri’s St. Louis County for officers there and is bringing another to Idaho.
“And we just broke ground in the Boise area, that’s an area called the Treasure Valley, for nine different agencies in that area to bring the customization that we have used in San Diego to those areas,” said Mackay. “The center is open 18 hours a day, seven days a week and all holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, all of that. But if there’s a necessity that arises to where the need is that it needs to be open 24 hours a day, then the center is capable of doing that as well.”
According to its website, NLEF assumes full operational oversight, from site selection and construction to daily management, while forming local advisory boards for community input. Construction costs per center range from $1 million to $2 million, with annual operating expenses between $2 million and $6 million.
Mackay said NLEF is trying to bring its child care option to North Carolina, with a potential regional-type center in an area like Greensboro or Raleigh.
“We’re going to be looking at, hopefully, a grant from the state of North Carolina for the pilot project for a small center, maybe 75 seats for the regional approach,” said Mackay. “Where the center will be hasn’t been determined yet, but it would encompass all commissioned peace officers in that area — could be troopers, probation, corrections, sheriff’s deputies, police officers.”
NLEF claims the centers are cost-effective ways to retain officers, noting they compare favorably to the roughly $250,000 required to recruit and train a single officer, especially given industry-wide issues like a 45% rise in retirements and an 18% increase in resignations reported in recent studies.
High turnover rates in North Carolina Corrections are one area Mackay underscored.
“It’s a very, very tough job, and there seems to be a 30% to 40% voluntary like resigning after within the first five years just because of the job and because of child care,” said Mackay, adding that being unable to bring your phone into a prison made it hard for officers who are parents to be informed by a child care facility.
According to the N.C. Department of Public Safety’s October 2024 survey research project, law enforcement agencies in the state were experiencing a decreasing number of recruits and finding it harder to attract and retain new recruits. The vacancy issue exists both in rural and urban areas. The survey showed 45% of agencies had vacancy rates of more than 10%, and 23% of agencies had vacancy rates “greater than 20%.”
Mackay said NLEF has been working with both large and small agencies in North Carolina as well as having discussions with various legislators, including Sen. Danny Britt (R-Robeson).
Mackay said legislators are “very, very well receptive” of the idea, but he noted that the state has had several natural disasters that have taken priority over other projects like the child care pilot.
Britt told North State Journal the General Assembly was interested in the pilot and hopes it will be part of a budget agreement.
“We have the money to fund a program like this in the state,” said Britt. “The state can afford it. It’s just reaching a budget agreement that has that language in there.
“There’s a pretty high need for child care in the state as it is. But specifically, in some exit interviews from people who have left the Department of Corrections, one of the primary issues, as well as people who are looking at potentially taking jobs with Department of Corrections, one of the largest issues is child care given the type of schedule that they would work, most of them operating outside of earlier than 7 a.m. and later than 5 p.m.”
Britt said there have been discussions with NLEF about whether it would be a large- or small-scale pilot with estimates of between $5 million and $15 million, depending on the size and location.
