It includes initiatives beyond money with an effort to expand the applicant pool “by prioritizing recruitment of candidates who reflect Seattle’s values and diverse communities and are committed to public service, including people with diverse racial and immigration backgrounds, people with college educations and language skills beyond English, and people who value living in Seattle.” The new incentive effort will start with a cost around $2 million - about twice recent budget planning. The plan also calls for retention incentives to keep existing officers but offered no specifics of any new programs. It comes despite the city’s own analysis that found hiring incentives are only sometimes effective in filling hard to hire positions. The new plan would seek to bring in new officers by offering up to $30,000 hiring bonuses for lateral transfers from other departments and $7,500 for new recruits. “Tangible impacts of the decrease in deployable officers include a continuing deterioration of police response times to priority calls, a 40% decrease in detectives available for vital investigative work, and increasing overtime expenses.” “This crisis is exacerbated by similar needs for more officers locally and nationally, creating an extremely competitive environment,” a statement on the new plans reads. The Harrell administration says officer staffing levels are “at their lowest in more than 30 years with over 400 officers departing SPD since 2019.” The Seattle Police Recruitment and Retention Plan (PDF) is hoped to staunch dipping totals and reverse recent trends as Seattle Police Department leadership and interim Chief Adrian Diaz continue to say Seattle needs more officers to keep the city safe. By 2027, the city will have nearly 1,500 under a new plan released this week by Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office. Just under 1,000 officers currently patrol the streets of Seattle.
0 kommentar(er)
