Salinas City Council approves hiring incentive proposal for Salinas Police

SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) - UPDATE MARCH 6, 2024 AT 10:40 P.M. - During Tuesday night's city council meeting Salinas City Council voted to pass the hiring incentive increase as proposed. The new incentive is set to go into effect April 5th.

Salinas Police hiring incentive increase proposal to be discussed by city council

ORIGINAL MARCH 3, 2024 2:47 P.M. - Salinas City Council are set to hear a report on a possible increase to hiring incentives currently in place by the Salinas Police Department.

The new incentive would be worth $40,000 for fifteen lateral officers, $20,000 for recruits and $2,500 for staff referrals.

This new amount would differ from the current hiring incentive by Salinas P.D. valued at up to $27,500

The amount would be paid in installments and would work as follows:

• Lateral Police Officer - $10,000 upon hire, $10,000 upon successful completion of the Field Training Officer Program, $10,000 one year from completion of the Field Training Program, and $10,000 two years from completion of the Field Training Program.
• Police Recruit - $2,500 upon hire, $5,000 upon successful completion of the Field Training Program, $6,250 one year from completion of the Field Training Program, and $6,250 two years from completion of the Field Training Program.

The initial hiring incentive program was approved back in March 2023, but police said since then they've seen 15 sworn personnel leave the department.

According to the staff report there's 23 sworn vacancies at the department and P.D. anticipates "additional vacancies in the coming months."

If approved, the police department would use salary savings from "budgeted, vacant positions" to move forward with the program, a total of which is worth $800,000.

Police Recruit Pay Increase

Another recommendation on the table would allow for the hourly pay rate for police recruits to increase from $32.89 to $41.67.

The staff report suggests raising the pay rate in order to be competitive with our agencies.

City Council are expected to discuss these topics plus other city salary related issues during the March 5, 2024 City Council session.