PD woes need team effort
Police Commissioner John Carrano, acting for Police Commission Chairman Ray Collins, sent out a clarion call to the City Council: we must do something to make the West Haven Police Department a competitive option for incoming candidates. In a detailed statement before the panel last month, Collins outlined a department that has been losing staff and not filling openings due to its pay scale and lack of pension benefits.
This has been a longstanding difficulty since the city’s financial straits resurfaced in the early 2000s and has continued to this present day. To keep the budget increases manageable, city administrations have not kept pace with surrounding towns as to pay scale, opting for percentage raises that have put the city out of the competition.
Collins estimated the city is 15 percent, or about $6,300 below the starting salary of local municipalities of similar size, and 15 percent, or $11,000 below the maximum salary offered by those same towns. When raises are given, they are between 2.5 and 3 percent, and are not keeping pace with other municipalities. Add to that a disability insurance package that is little more than workers compensation, and you have a recipe for what we are experiencing.
Add to this the 2009 decision to offer only a 401k plan to incoming officers rather than the traditional pension, and you have a recipe for what we are experiencing. The city is acting as a training center for police officers with the city footing the bill for all that entails. Then, after a year or two, officers look to greener pastures with pensions and higher salaries. Collins stated the city has lost 21 officers in the recent past to other communities.
Right now, the city has 114 on the WHPD. Industry experts believe the city should have a minimum of 122. The situation will get worse with the departure of others that will bring the total down to 107. And new recruits are not filling the gaps.
The lack of pay and benefits has caused new prospects to look elsewhere for employment. The current crop of recruits is not looking at the city in any great numbers, with a possible single applicant possible.
The lack of numbers has caused another problem. Veteran officers, who find their way into the city after working elsewhere are leaving for another reason: mandated overtime. Veteran officers go to another place in hopes of working out their years with some accrued seniority. Mandated overtime has made the city less attractive and caused some to leave the force and go somewhere else.
Collins noted in his statement the loss of the officers since 2015 has not been without its own costs. The city has spent $2.1 million in costs for staff that have left. That is an eye-opener for city officials, if nothing else is. Officials at the South-Central Criminal Justice Association have alerted the department of its own concerns.
The problem with the WHPD did not happen overnight. It has been an ongoing situation that has been put on the back burner in a city fraught by other financial woes. But that can no longer be the case. A plan of action that will bring the department into competitive territory. This is a problem that has taken years to fester, and it will take some time to remedy.
The police contract is up for renegotiation as the present pact terminates with the end of the fiscal year. A committee of the City Council along with members of the Police Commission and the rank-and-file officers should be established by the Rossi administration to address a long-range solution.
The city cannot afford to have fewer officers who are overwhelmed with added shifts. It needs a fully operational department with competitive salaries and benefits. The city needs leadership on this issue. Now.