Calif. Police Department to Offer $30K Bonuses to Recruit Officers

Antioch will offer bonuses of up to $30,000 and other incentives to police officers joining its department.

The council approved the new bonuses, which are structured over five years, with $15,000 to be paid upfront along with other incentives on Tuesday as a way to recruit officers in what is now an “extremely competitive” job market, Antioch police leaders have said.

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Antioch Police Chief Steve Ford said the city is in a unique situation and must do something to attract officers. Though he didn’t mention it, only weeks earlier it was revealed that the FBI and District Attorney’s Office were investigating eight of the department’s patrol officers – all now on leave – for “crimes of moral turpitude,” adding to the shortages.

“These are unprecedented times that we’re in and in unprecedented times, maybe we need to be creative and forward-thinking with this package; that’s my firm belief,” Ford said. “So given the totality of circumstances … I think this plan hopefully will give us the persons that we need to shore up our ranks.”

Mayor Lamar Thorpe first proposed adding incentives and bonuses — up to $40,000 — in April, citing a 2021 report by the Police Executive Research Forum that there has been a 45% increase in retirements and a 20% increase in resignations nationally compared with previous years. Police leaders later modified the proposal, reducing the amounts and extending the years needed to get the full benefits from three to five.

Antioch police are authorized to hire 115 sworn officers but currently have only 105, with another 10 anticipated to leave or retire within the next year, Capt. Anthony Morefield said in previous discussions.

The council first approved bonuses in 2017, setting an amount of $10,000 for experienced police officers who join and stay for at least three years. Since those bonuses were approved, the city was able to hire 40 officers from other agencies, Morefield has said.

Councilmember Tamisha Torres-Walker said she was not against $25,000 or $30,000 incentives but didn’t want a lot of money given upfront.

Under the new program, new hires from other agencies and entry-level officers would receive $15,000 after finishing field training, $2,500 after probation, $5,000 after three years of service, $2,500 for four years and another $5,000 after five years of service. Current incentives that would remain include the ability to carry over 200 hours of accrued sick leave, receive 40 hours of vacation at hiring, and use their previous service seniority and vacation accrual rates.

Torres-Walker suggested a different structure of payouts, with only $5,000 given after field training, which is $5,000 less than the current incentive.

“We can’t lower that if we were already having a problem at $10,000,” Mayor Pro-Tem Mike Barbanica said. “If we lower that and cut that in half right now, this is pointless.”

Thorpe also said that was not the direction they gave at the last meeting.

“Understand, we wanted to go for the biggest bang at the very beginning and Chief Ford and I kept emphasizing the urgency of what’s happening now,” Thorpe said.

Ford said he understood that the councilwoman wanted to make sure the new officers would stay at least through probation, “so there’s some skin in the game.”

“But I mean, given the circumstances, it’s my personal feeling that we need to attract them now, and hook them now,” he said.

“And like I said a week ago, what really keeps officers won’t be the money, it’s leadership, it’s the relationship with the organization and making certain that there’s some value given to the officers and that they have the tools and the training that they need to stay and want to stay.”

Under the new one-year program, qualified police from other departments and entry-level police recruits will receive the incentives, but if they leave before five years, they will be asked to return the money depending on years of service. The clawback clause, however, has no teeth as the money city cannot legally withhold what’s owed from their paychecks.

City Attorney Thomas L. Smith cautioned the council that if an officer didn’t return the money, the city would spend more money trying to get it back.

After hearing that, Barbanica withdrew his support.

“This is the public’s money, this is not our money,” he said. “And if we’re going into this telling people all you gotta do is walk away and we will never come after you for the money, everybody’s gonna walk away.”

Morefield admitted there is no mechanism to force an officer who leaves early to return the money. The city would have to sue to get it back, but the officers would not be getting all of the bonuses unless they stuck around for all five years, he said.

Antioch police have said in recent months there has been a dramatic decrease in interest from lateral officers and the number of entry-level applicants has slowed, so much so that some testing events have been canceled.

Other cities have also offered bonuses, including Pittsburg at $15,000 for police transferring in, Palo Alto at $25,000 for laterals and $10,000 for academy graduates, and Alameda up to $30,000. Alameda County Sheriff’s offer a $12,000 hiring bonus for academy graduates and $10,000 for Deputy Sheriff recruits. Brentwood and Oakley, though, offer no incentives for new hires.

Under Antioch’s plan, the bonuses will be paid through past salary savings since more officers were budgeted for than were on staff. But that also didn’t sit well with Torres-Walker.

“At what point do you run out of the potential salary savings if you are aggressive and successful?” she said. “And then where would the money come from for the incentive program moving forward?”

The interim chief assured her they would be aggressive in their recruiting efforts, but it’s a lengthy process.

“So it’s not even like we wouldn’t be able to shore these ranks up in totality,” he said.

Despite some of the objectives, the mayor motioned for approval, seconded by Wilson and the measure passed 3-to-2, with Torres-Walker and Barbanica dissenting.

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