King City Police offers hiring incentives to lure new officers

Rebuilding a department one officer at a time, except King City police needs five as soon as possible. The department is offering hiring incentives to replenish a third of its force. It’s a competitive market out there, and the department wants to get the leg up on the competition.

Officer Joseph Andriola is the newest officer on the King City police force. He won’t be the new guy for long.

“We want to get these people on board as quickly as possible,” Interim King City Police Chief Tony Sollecito said.

The department needs to hire five new officers. To get them on the streets faster, they’re looking for transfers or academy graduates. Not just anyone will do.

“Under no circumstances will we loosen our standards,” Sollecito said. “Our standards will remain the same.”

What could pose a problem is the background checks. An applicant’s background is scrutinized for any previous interactions with police. An applicant must also go through psychological and polygraph tests.

“For instance to hire five people,” Sollecito explained, “I may have to have 30 people in background.”

It’s a competitive market out there, one that money could fix. The city council is considering boosting salaries to a range of $3,800-$4,927 a month, a 25% pay increase. But what the department can’t shake – its reputation.

If you go onto Google and type in “King City Police,” one of the first things to pop up is “scandal.” The interim chief doesn’t care about what was said in the past, it’s all about what’s happening now and in the future.

“If they go on to Google there are also going to find that the city council did vote to rebuild the police department and 100% of community members were in favor of rebuilding the police department,” Sollecito said. “We just want people to understand, it is an attractive position to come to, rebuilding of a police department is exciting.”

As the city rebuilds the department, the community also wants rebuilt relationships.

“The community needs to feel safe, they need to feel secure,” Vince Lopez, longtime business owner said.

The city is interviewing four police chief candidates. The city manager says he hopes to name a permanent replacement soon.

Interested applicants need to fill out an application, which is available at the King City Police Department on Bassett Street.