Title
Adoption of a Resolution Establishing a Recruitment and Hiring Incentive Policy for Lateral Police Officers in the Alameda Police Department. (Human Resources 2510)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jill Keimach, City Manager
Re: Adoption of a Resolution Establishing a Recruitment and Hiring Incentive Policy for Lateral Police Officers in the Alameda Police Department
BACKGROUND
Over the last year, the Alameda Police Department (APD) and Human Resource (HR) staff have focused on recruitment efforts to fill vacant police officer positions. The City has run continuous recruitments and attended job fairs and police academies to reach out to candidates. During this time, the City has been able to successfully attract police officer trainees. However, police officer trainees must attend the six month police academy and perform 18 weeks of field training prior to working independently as a patrol officer. As a result, hiring only new officers does not meet the needs of the Department.
The Department has focused significant efforts toward the recruitment of lateral candidates from other law enforcement agencies. Lateral candidates often have many years of experience and can be ready to work independently in less than 18 weeks. However, while the Department does receive applications for lateral candidates, it has been difficult to find qualified candidates who will leave their current agency to join the City due to the loss of benefits such as vacation and sick leave or special pays related to longevity.
In order to become a more attractive choice to lateral candidates, APD and HR have collaborated to develop a policy titled "Recruitment and Hiring Incentives for Lateral Police Officers". The goal of the policy is to eliminate the benefit and financial barriers that may prevent a trained officer from leaving their existing agency to join the Alameda Police Department.
DISCUSSION
Hiring and retaining qualified police off...
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