CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Pay for area police officers has gone up, but many departments are still having trouble keeping their staff. And when they have a job opening not many people are applying for the positions.
Aransas Pass Police Chief Eric Blanchard is hoping to get some people to apply and are qualified for the seven positions he has open.
"Back when I got into policing, you would be one of 200 applicants applying to an agency," Blanchard said. "Now, you are lucky to receive applicants.”
The Aransas Pass Police Department is looking for two Animal Control officers and three police officers, including one who is known as a Harbor Safety and Enforcement officer.
Aransas Pass City Manager Gary Edwards said the city tries to remain competitive with surrounding cities when it comes to hiring police personnel. A police officer here is paid $25.14 an hour.
”The security, the benefits and the pay all have to be looked at as ways to keep people here with all that said it’s still a challenge in today’s world,” Edwards said.
New Robstown Police Chief Mike Tamez said the starting pay for an officer there is $22 an hour. He’s come up with a way to attract and keep people on the force through a Silver to Gold Badge Program he’s starting up.
"Why don’t we create a program where we can take these officers from investigations and put them in patrol, open up an investigation spot and a patrol officer who wants to go to investigations and give him the opportunity to do that,” Tamez said.
The starting salary for a Portland police officer is between $56-$60,000 a year. Chief Mark Cory said he has a force of 41 officers with only two open positions right now. He feels that along with the higher salary and benefits the city offers, it’s the extras which are helping him keep his officers happy.
"We have some of the best equipment," Cory said. "We are constantly buying them the best patrol cars, the best weapons for the officers so, anything we can get to make their job easier on the streets is what we do.”
Chief Cory is hoping that his strategy continues to work but, he does admit that in this day and age of anti-police sentiment, it is getting harder and harder each day to find folks who want to do this job.
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