Pay increases have some police agencies concerned

Amidst pay increases for officers across the state, some police agencies are more worried than others about their officers leaving for more money in other cities.

In Clovis, staff mobility may be as much of a concern for the city’s police chief as is the department’s lower pay rates compared to those in Albuquerque or Los Alamos.

In Portales, where the pay is yet lower, the issue is more about simple dollars and cents.

“The pay issue in our state is a very hot and competitive topic for all law enforcement agencies,” Clovis Police Chief Doug Ford wrote in a message to The News. “All agencies in New Mexico and throughout the nation are having problems in recruiting and retaining personnel.”

Recent pay raises in Albuquerque have had police across New Mexico eyeing the state for a bigger paycheck, with Santa Fe police and University of New Mexico police departments reporting a loss of officers to the Albuquerque Police Department following APD’s recent raises.

Officers in Albuquerque received a massive increase in their compensation in April, bringing the hourly rate for lateral hires to $28 per hour. Lateral officers are those who are hired on from other agencies and have a one-year probation period after which they are raised to $29 per hour. It amounts to an attractive financial lure for officers elsewhere with experience.

In Clovis, Ford said lateral hires start at $19.17 per hour and will increase from there, with raises ranging from 3 percent to 9 percent, “depending on the total amount of years experience they have.”

In Portales the rates for lateral hires also vary based on experience but range from $18.03 to $21.90 per hour, according to PPD Lt. Chris Williams.

But the hourly rate for uncertified new hires at PPD starts at $12.53 and increases to $15.36 after certification. In Clovis, non-certified recruit officers start at $15.35 hourly and step up to $16.53 after they complete the law enforcement academy and earn their police officer certification. Following 18 months of probation CPD increases that rate to the same it initially offers to experienced lateral hires.

By comparison, APD recruits begin at an officer second class and for one year are paid at $20.85 per hour, while in Los Alamos the pay ranges for their new officers start at $23.98 and increase with experience and education. Experienced lateral officers there can make over $26.43 per hour depending on their qualifications.

APD’s raise has been attractive to officers in the metro area as well as some across the state who have been leaving to work in New Mexico’s biggest city. In response, some departments have increased their own salaries to try and remain competitive with higher paying outlets.

UNM’s public information officer Lt. Trace Peck said the university recently gave the police department a 13 percent raise — possibly the first increase in almost a decade — bringing officers there to a starting rate of $23.41 per hour.

Not every agency has reacted in kind; Taos Police Chief David Trujillo, whose officers start at $18.85 per hour and increase to $19.85 after completing the academy, said he wasn’t worried about that kind of attrition.

“It’s the domino effect ... you have one agency that (gives a raise) and then another agency does it,” he said. “You’ll never pay (officers) what their life is worth,”

Still, Trujillo says that heading a department whose starting hourly rate for certified officers is more than three and four dollars higher than rates in Clovis and Portales, respectively. Both of the latter agencies offer incentives to those officers who are bilingual, who instruct or who have additional training and certifications. PPD offers longevity incentives up to $2,000, and CPD also has incentives for “physical fitness, shift differential ... and on call for certain duty assignments.”

Still, are they concerned with losing officers? Absolutely.

“Yes,” Williams wrote in a message. “We do not have the pay or tax base to be able to compete with the higher paid agencies in the state.”

Ford offered another perspective: “We are always concerned about losing officers, but we also recognize that we are a very mobile society. We cannot control when they are offered other opportunities or their spouses profession can cause them to leave for other positions.”

The Taos News contributed to this report.