Clearlake City Council approves recruitment incentives for police officers
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council has approved a plan to offer monetary incentives to increase the hiring pool for the police department.
The council approved the proposal at its Dec. 12 meeting.
The discussion begins at the 44:24 mark in the video above.
Police Chief Andrew White said the agency’s top priority has been recruitment and retention, but it has been a challenge.
“Quite simply, we can’t get our job done without having the human capital within the department to make that happen,” White said.
Over the past 18 months, the department has hired six officers and promoted two others. However, despite those efforts and creativity, White said the Clearlake Police Department is seeing the same thing that’s occurring elsewhere across the country – a reduction of the candidacy pool.
White said the department has 24.5 full-time equivalent police officer positions and currently has two vacancies, which are having an impact including overtime. He said that the agency’s exceptionally high call volume and efforts to reduce crime are negatively impacted by any vacancies.
Hiring bonuses have been used in other agencies, White said.
Locally, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office offers a $5,000 incentive and the Lakeport Police Department offers $6,000 in the form of academy training, he said.
His written report notes that, statewide, hiring bonuses go as high as $30,000.
White recommended a hiring bonus of $15,000 for new academy graduates and lateral police officers through the end of the fiscal year. City Manager Alan Flora would have to approve such offers.
In addition, White recommended that Flora be able to advance sick pay and vacation balances to qualified lateral candidates, which is another bonus other agencies offer.
White said he thinks the bonuses will increase the pool of candidates, explaining that training for an academy graduate can easily exceed $20,000. Once hired, they have another 16 weeks of training with a field training officer.
Besides those hiring bonuses, White sought approval for a $1,500 referral bonus for existing employees recommending officer candidates. It would not be applicable for anyone involved in the hiring process.
“We’re seeing an almost unprecedented time in terms of recruitment efforts,” said White.
While the department believes the incentives will be effective, it will take time to see if it will work, he said.
White said the funding for the incentive program will come out of salary savings in the police department’s budget for the current fiscal year.
Councilman Phil Harris asked what would happen if an officer doesn’t stay with the department for a reasonable amount of time.
White said the city manager would look at a two-year commitment window. If an officer only stayed for a year, the amount that would be owed the city would be reduced. However, White added that all of the details haven’t been worked out yet.
Harris said he favored the incentive proposal, and wanted to go further to offer down payment assistance for police officers to buy homes and stay in the community. Vice Mayor Dirk Slooten said he agreed with Harris’ suggestion.
Clearlake Police Sgt. Rodd Joseph told the council that he came to the agency 12 years ago from another Northern California department. He said he was fortunate to have the financial ability to move here, however, “A lot of people don’t,” with some living paycheck to paycheck and having to pay for their academy education.
“In my experience, I think this would be a great tool,” Joseph said.
Flora asked if the council wanted to take action then on the down payment assistance or have staff bring it back.
Harris said he wanted staff to bring it back, and he suggested $10,000 for down payment assistance.
The council agreed to bring back that part. Harris moved to approve the remainder of the proposal, for the hiring and referral bonuses, with Councilman Russ Perdock seconding and the council approving it 5-0.
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