TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Educational Incentives for Police Officers
DATE: May 9, 2005
The purpose of this budget working paper is to present the costs of a proposed educational incentive program for police officers.
The budget review report produced by Maximus recommended that the Town consider implementing an educational incentive program as a means of improving the recruitment and retention rates in the police department. Such a program would recognize the educational achievements of officers by providing additional supplements to the base salaries of officers with college degrees.
The Durham Police Department and University of North Carolina Department of Public Safety both offer educational incentives. In these two departments officers with two-year degrees receive a supplement of 2.5% and those with four year degrees receive a 5% supplement. UNC Public Safety also offers a 7.5% supplement to officers with professional degrees.
We believe that an educational incentive program, when combined with increases in base salaries for entry level and less senior officers, would serve as an effective recruiting and retention tool. The Council is currently considering salary increases for lower level officers. We believe that such increases, if approved, would help improve recruitment rates. We also believe that offering educational incentives to officers who have worked for the town for several years would help improve retention rates and would be an excellent recruiting tool for officers looking at Town employment as a long-term commitment.
We recommend that a five percent supplement be added to the base salary of all officers who have at least a four-year degree, have served with the police department for at least six years, and have reached the level of Police Officer III. Of the 103 officers currently in the department, thirty-three would be eligible to receive the supplement.
The first-year cost of the educational incentive program, if effective on October 1, would be approximately $74,000.