Santa Fe police offering incentive for lateral hires

Understaffing in the department is at 19%, with 32 vacancies

SANTA FE — The Santa Fe Police Department is hoping to lure officers from other agencies with generous signing bonuses, an effort aimed at combating understaffing in the department.

The department on Wednesday announced that it is offering a $15,000 signing bonus for lateral officer hires and a pay increase for current officers ranging from 1.2% to 6.06% depending on the officer’s rank.

City government gave the department $423,127 for the salary increases, which averages out to a 4% increase for each funded position, Deputy Chief Ben Valdez said.

The city is offering the bonus and raise to help the agency stay competitive and to show appreciation to staff for the hard work they’ve done during the pandemic, Valdez said. SFPD currently has 32 vacancies for uniformed officers. Fully staffed, the department would have 169 officers, meaning it is operating with a 19% shortage.

“This will help on one hand with retaining our staff (and) on the other hand to also attract other candidates, whether it be entry-level employees or lateral police officers to come and join our team,” Valdez said.

The bonuses for lateral hires — officers working in the state who already have their law enforcement license — will be covered through the cost savings on vacant positions, Valdez said. Officers will get $7,500 when they’re first hired and the rest of it after their one-year probationary period ends.

For fiscal year 2021, the department was able to hire 11 lateral police officers, which hasn’t been possible in a decade. Valdez said lateral officers are a great benefit to the department because they bring experience with them and can hit the streets more quickly because they don’t have to go through the training and certification process that police cadets do.

In 2018, SFPD lost 38 officers, including 10 to the Albuquerque Police Department, which was offering incentive bonuses to lateral recruits. Valdez said these initiatives aim to help prevent that from occurring again.

“We lose out because (departing officers) have a lot of institutional knowledge,” he said. “It’s hard to lose that many people in that short a period of time.”

Since then, Valdez said the city has stepped up to help the department retain and grow its current staff.