$35,000 handed out in incentives to lure police officers
Program pays for referrals, officer bonuses Chris Ramirez The Arizona Republic Jul. 1, 2005 12:00 AM Gilbert has paid about $35,000 since 2003 as part of its recruitment of police officers. Existing workers have been paid $6,250 in incentives for referring police candidates, according to records kept by the Police Department's planning and research office. An employee gets $250 when the referred applicant is hired and $250 when the applicant completes field training. Gilbert also paid $28,500 in signing bonuses and incentives for officers once they completed field training and were sworn in. Sworn officer recruits get $1,500 after completing the academy. During the last year, the town has become more aggressive about increasing its number of sworn officers to keep pace with its enormous growth. About $15,000 in incentives have been paid since November, according to police records. Gilbert officials are trying to staff one officer per every thousand residents, but that can be a challenge in a community that takes in 1,000 residents each month. Gilbert's population is roughly 173,000 residents, nearly triple its size in 1990. Mayor Steve Berman said that while the incentives alone can't be credited with recent hires, they don't hurt. "No one thing attracts people to a community. It's a combination of ingredients," he said. "But money is important. Everyone's got a number." There have been 24 payouts for referrals since 2003. There have been eight so far in 2005, five in 2004, and 11 in 2003. Gilbert's incentives apply to the hiring of all types of police staff, including clerks and dispatchers. Signing bonuses are awarded only to sworn officers. Last month, a Town Council subcommittee approved 21 positions for sworn personnel for fiscal year 2005-06. Gilbert also should pay more attention to compensating officers better after they've gained experience on the Gilbert force, Councilman Don Skousen said. "If we have officers in Mesa and Gilbert starting at the same time, but, after five years, the officer in Gilbert is getting $300 less a month . . . that's a problem," said Skousen, a former police officer. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
