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    • Bloomington plans to spend million to raise police salaries in 2025
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    Bloomington plans to spend $3 million to raise police salaries in 2025

    Umito Posted on

    THE city ​​of Bloomington plans to increase police salaries of at least $14,000 starting next year.

    “The goal is to strengthen recruitment and retention by aligning salaries and benefits with neighboring agencies,” said Desiree DeMolina, communications director for Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson’s office.

    The council is expected to discuss the wage hike at a special session at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

    City Council President Isabel Piedmont-Smith said the increase “should put the city in a competitive position with other police departments in the years to come.”

    BPD compensation lags behind other agencies

    THE Bloomington Police Department for years, it has been losing officers to higher-paying departments elsewhere in Indiana and to the private sector. BPD became the lowest paid police agency in Monroe County this year after Indiana University raised its police officers’ salaries by $7,000 statewide.

    IUPD increases base salary: Bloomington PD is now the lowest paid agency in Monroe County.

    The BPD currently has 89 officers, 16 fewer than expected. The department has added officers in recent years, but continues to lose young and experienced officers to other departments, city officials said.

    City leaders said Bloomington often paid to train young officers, only to transfer them to other departments to get better pay. Additionally, understaffing contributes to burnout and many unintentional overtime hours.

    Senior Police Officer Paul Post, head of the police union, said a BPD officer recently left to work for IUPD.

    Post said the planned pay increase would make BPD compensation competitive again and he is “hopeful” the department will be able to add more officers in 2025. He doubted, however, that BPD would reach 105 officers by the end of next year.

    “The union is very pleased with the proposed wage increases and is grateful for the work done by Mayor Thomson and her administration,” Post said via email.

    The Thomson administration also allowed officers to be equipped with Tasers — a move that previous administrations resisted for decades — and allowed officers to take their patrol cars home. Post said these measures also made BPD more attractive to recruits and transfers.

    Under this proposal, all police officers would benefit on January 1 from the 2.9% increase provided for in their contract, plus an additional $12,000. For officers with one year of experience, that would mean their base pay would increase to $82,161, an increase of nearly $14,000 from what they currently earn. For a senior police officer, this would mean an increase in base salary to $87,826, an increase of more than $16,600.

    Agency Base salary
    Indianapolis Metro Police $71,829
    Carmel PD $71,409
    Indiana University PD $70,325
    Columbus PD $70,000
    PD Lafayette $68,112
    PD of fishermen $65,792
    Fort Wayne Police $65,630
    Ellettsville PD $64,998
    Bloomington Police $63,683
    Greenwood PD $63,000
    Noblesville Police $62,753
    Plainfield Police $62,400
    The Bloomington Police Department’s salaries are lower than many other departments serving smaller populations like Ellettsville, Columbus and Lafayette.

    DeMolina said via email that the planned increase would increase BPD salaries by a total of $3.05 million over the 2024 budget.

    The administration aims to hire enough officers to have a full complement, although it acknowledged that is an “ambitious goal.”

    The city struggles to recruit and retain police officers

    The city council has been discussing for years how to improve the recruitment and retention of police officersand council and then mayor John Hamilton increase in police salaries by 13% effective January 1, 2023. This agreement increased the salaries of agents with one year of experience by $6,700 and those of agents with 20 years of experience by $9,200.

    Piedmont-Smith, the city council president, did not respond to a question about how the city could break out of the cycle of increasing police salaries, only to be increased the following year by the sheriff’s department , Indiana State Police, IUPD or departments. in wealthier towns like Carmel.

    DeMolina said, “Along with the wage increase, we also introduced ride-hailing vehicles and Tasers – benefits that many other jurisdictions have long offered. Combined with BPD’s long-standing reputation for exceptional training and skilled detectives, as well as supportive administration, these enhancements create a more competitive, comprehensive and comprehensive offering. This approach allows us to offer more than just a salary increase, making BPD a more attractive choice while striving for salary parity with surrounding jurisdictions.

    Post, the union president, said it was difficult to answer because nationally the number of people wanting to become officers has declined. As older officers retire, departments across the country compete fiercely to recruit the few available candidates to replace them.

    The Police Executive Research Forum said in 2019 that police services were seeing a drop in the number of applicants. And the Indiana police told the Herald-Times in 2021 they used to receive hundreds of applications for police vacancies, but at the time they only received dozens. And around 90% of candidates fail to pass the preliminary stages. testing and training.

    However, PERF, a nonprofit police research and policy organization, also reported that police departments hired more officers in 2023 than in the previous four years and fewer officers resigned overall or retired.

    “In 2023, responding agencies hired nearly 30% more sworn officers than in 2020 and 6.4% more than in 2019,” PERF said.

    Post said Monday: “Salaries and benefits are the most visible elements in terms of recruiting new recruits, but you see agencies trying all kinds of new initiatives to better position themselves and attract new recruits (bonuses hiring, moving expenses, living expenses). , changes in educational opportunities, changes in health coverage, etc.)”

    The city of Bloomington still advertises on its website a $5,000 sign-on bonus for transfers from other departments or for recruits who have completed law enforcement academy training.

    Boris Ladwig can be contacted at [email protected].

    Umito
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