The Signal Hill City Council has come to an agreement with the Signal Hill Police Officers’ Association to increase the benefits offered to officers who want to leave other city’s police departments for Signal Hill.
This is in line with the goals set by the newest police chief, Wayne Byerley, to attract more personnel to the Signal Hill Police Department (SHPD).
“Our police department, like many others throughout the country, has been working on enhancing our recruitment and retention efforts,” City Manager Carlo Tomaino said during Tuesday’s council meeting. “It’s certainly much more difficult to recruit and retain police officers today than it was just a few years ago.”
Under the updated Memorandum of Understanding between the City and the Police Officers’ Association, the time officers spent working for other police departments will be applied to SHPD’s longevity pay program.
Previously, under SHPD’s longevity pay program, officers received increasing bumps in their pay depending on how long they worked for SHPD. Now, officers will receive increased pay for how long they’ve worked after leaving the police academy, regardless of which department they worked for.
As an example, Byerley said a corporal who previously worked for the Los Angeles Police Department will have her time there applied to her longevity pay.
Byerley said that unlike a new recruit, a lateral hire can be oriented and ready for the field in about a month.
Under the former longevity pay program, officers received increases in monthly pay after working for SHPD for five years and again after seven years. Under the new program, officers will receive pay increases after five, 10, 15 and 20 years whether they’ve worked for SHPD or another police force.
The longevity pay increases by milestone are as follows:
- $300 after five years
- $500 after 10 years
- $750 after 15 years
- $1,000 after 20 years
Byerley said he plans to advertise the new lateral recruitment program at dry cleaning businesses, since officers have to get their uniforms dry cleaned.
SHPD also plans to advertise for new recruits at gyms and collegiate sports tournaments.
“At a time when we’re seeing a decline in interest to become a police officer, I need to fill critical vacancies to address burnout and ensure we are able to deliver quality services to our residents and support safe staffing levels for our officers,” Byerley said to the city council.
