YPD is taking steps to hire, retain officers

Readers, what would you do to help boost YPd?

The Yuma Sun recently printed several stories examining the Yuma Police Department and its struggles in hiring and retaining officers, based on a presentation to the Yuma City Council by Police Chief Susan Smith and Deputy Lisa Culp.

It’s a great series of stories looking at the issue in depth, and if you haven’t already done so, we encourage you to visit the Yuma Sun’s website to read them.

Ultimately, the goal is to bring more staff to the department while at the same time retaining the current staff.

Smith and Culp noted they have several actions currently underway, including:

• Offering hiring bonuses of $10,000 for lateral sworn officers with three years of experience or more, and $5,000 for lateral sworn officers with one to three years experience, as well as $1,000 bonuses to cadets and dispatchers.

• $1,000 bonuses to city employees who refer candidates for police officer or dispatcher.

• Recruitment efforts through a variety of platforms, including all forms of social media, government job postings, blogs, radio, billboards, cable, movie theaters and law enforcement magazines.

• On-location recruiting efforts to military bases, colleges and high schools, as well as job fairs.

• Meeting with each existing patrol squad to gauge morale and hear their suggestions – many of which have already been implemented, including changing the patrol schedule, procuring new vests to help with back issues and transitioning to a new weapons system.

• For existing officers, a career enhancement program is being developed to set goals for officers such as becoming bilingual or specialized in a field, and then paying officers for each goal achieved.

Smith and Culp recommended several action items moving forward, which include:

• A hiring banner on the city’s website, which has since been added.

• A human resources position based at YPD to shorten the hiring process, which currently takes about 90 days for officers and 60 days for dispatchers

• Expediting the testing process, so it only takes a couple of days.

• Raising the pay and benefits while fixing the pay compression issue, when there’s little to no pay difference between ranks. Acting City Administrator Jay Simonton noted that the proposed budget for the city prioritizes pay for public safety. A salary study this coming fiscal year would analyze all pay for department employees, including the starting salary to fix the compression problem.

Smith, Culp and the city have taken steps to help alleviate this problem, and there are suggestions on the table to help further remedy it.

Ultimately, however, public safety employees are at the heart of our community, and it’s critical that we find ways to boost our ranks.

Readers, we’re curious to hear from you. Are there ideas that you feel might help YPD, and if so, what are they? Let us know. Share your thoughts – send in a Letter to the Editor at letters@yumasun.com.