The Fremont Police Department is hoping to attract 10 officers to its ranks with an eye-popping signing bonus.
The FPD announced Friday that it plans to offer lateral officers, meaning experienced cops, a $100,000 signing bonus when they apply to join the department.
"It's a big number. It is going to catch the attention of some, and that's the intent behind it," said Sean Washington, the FPD chief. "It reduces significantly the training time needed and they don't have to go to the academy."
City officials said the move is needed because officer recruitment is down locally. And it's part of a national trend.
According to a Survey by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, close to 70% of departments around the country said recruitment is harder now than it was five years ago.
"It's difficult. There are many great police departments out there, and we're all competing for the same group of talented individuals," Washington said.
However, the bonus will be split up over five years.
Local
New lateral officers will receive $10,000 when they accept the job, an additional $10,00 for completing field training, and $15,000 for finishing probation and their first year.
The remaining $50,000 will be paid in years two, three and five.
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"The reason why we structured it that way is we want to retain our officers as well," Washington said. "So if you give them $100,000 day one and they quit day two, that defeats the purpose."
City leaders said while the figure may seem big, larger signing bonuses make financial sense.
"We spend so much money in training and recruiting police officers," said Raj Salwan, mayor of Fremont. "We can have a trained officer ready to hit the ground running on day one. So that can make a huge dent and make our city safer. We can provide more services and have more officers on the street."
The only other department in the county offering a similar bonus was the Torrance Police Department, near Los Angeles.
Fremont also gave officers a 2% raise to keep its current staff, and any mandatory overtime is now double pay.
