Cain Makes Case On Cop-Poaching

Branford and East Haven have experienced similar problems with retention. Branford pays its recruits $65K, but, like New Haven, has a 401K plan vice traditional pension for officers. Its chief estimates the cost of recruiting and training an officer to be $100K, not $30K.

What other industries impose financial penalties for resigning your position after mandatory training? This is not an instance of employees taking elective training that the employer covers and dashing. This is an employer deciding to hire a person and then mandating they receive certain training.

The department might consider upping their reimbursement clause in their job offers which potential employees can then decide to accept or reject, but a law amounts to indentured servitude.

If you make your workplace attractive only as a stepping stone, then that is how employees will treat it. Make it attractive as a career choice, and employees will stay.

It's that simple. It's absurd to talk about recruitment and retention problems but then take actions that will negatively impact recruitment and retention.

"Hey since we know the arbitration process is not going to end well for our Officers, we need to find a way to make it hard for them to leave."

Thanks a lot.

-Rank and file

And "fairly new phenomena"!?

Perhaps the push by W and W some decades ago for what finally became SA 15-5 is forgotten by NHPD, when certain other departments were experiencing talent drain for other reasons.

I suppose we could forgive the memory lapse; when NHPD was on closer parity in benefits, they may not have noticed others complaining about the fairly old phenomena.

@narcan

"If you make your workplace attractive only as a stepping stone, then that is how employees will treat it. Make it attractive as a career choice, and employees will stay."

Enough said, no further comments are necessary.

narcan: Most workplaces require employees to pay for their own professional education before they are hired. Ask a teacher, journalist, nurse, doctor, lawyer, plumber, who paid for their training. Most times the answer is the employee did, and wasn't hired until licensed and fully able to work. The major exception is the armed forces, but they require up to eight years of commitment in return for the training. if police and fire operated like most professions, employees would pay tuition to attend the academy, then look for a job after passing a professional exam.

@1644 agreed on the military points, but let's be honest, most people are doing 4 year contracts not 8. And I am not aware of any law requiring reimbursement of training expensives if they are separated early for some reason.

You present an interesting idea of requiring training in advance. Florida has long operated under such system, where you must attend college-like courses on your own to become certified. Then you are eligible to apply to a department, and if hired, you complete only a short academy of a few weeks to learn driving, weapons handling, etc.

Caveat that most of the larger Florida agencies have always had to offer to sponsor applicants to attend the colleges and with the hiring difficulties, even smaller departments are resorting to sponsorship.

Also, most medical and educational positions offer debt forgiveness if you voluntarily agree to serve in places like New Haven.

narcan: If someone is dropped from a service academy (a friend was for being gay), they have to pay for their education. If otherwise qualified, they can serve as enlisted. All contracts are 8 years, active and reserve, The length of active time depends on the length and quality of training. In any case, no one is saying cops who are flaid off should have to repay, just those who leave voluntarily. The reality is the payment would be made by the hiring department, who really shouldn't get the advantage of the investment the training department has made without the hiring department paying the training department. As for Florida, do the sponsoring departments require the spnoree to serve for a particular length of time, as does the military? As do some of the federal debt forgiveness programs, like TFA? Note: most teachers pay for much or all of their educations, do student teaching for free (or pay for it) and then get certified, continue to work, on their own, on a Masters, all for pay comparable or worse than cops. No 3rd shifts for teacher or holiday work, but no overtime, either. No way to get $150K as a teacher.

According to Chief Cain's testimony, it is not the officers who pay the penalty; it is the police departments that hire them. It seems totally appropriate for other police departments to compensate New Haven for the cost of training and certifying new officers. And it seems appropriate for New Haven to seek to extend this program from 2 to 5 years. In her testimony, Cain says it would be okay to have a sliding scale, so poaching departments will pay a lower penalty in the out years. That seems quite reasonable.

Poaching would suggest wrongdoing. Officers are leaving in droves. If it's the fairytale land Cain makes it out to be, why go?

I think perhaps some introspective thinking is in order here?

One officer told me another 50 are pushing to go. When will the City stop wasting tax payer money? Another 3.5 million out the door- not including the brain drain. When will this end?

Chief Cains brief testimony at the state legislator was both accurate and compelling. I particularly liked her idea about prorating the cost of the training of police officers similar to the prorating you would get on your tires that you buy for your car .

That seems fair however the big elephant in the room is benefits and salaries . What should we pay our members in blue ? What type of benefits can this city afford ?