Carlisle coping with police attrition, low wages

By the numbers

Number of officers leaving in past six years: 12

Authorized number of patrol officers: 7**

*Excluding cost of benefits

**Excludes police chief

Source: Village of Carlisle

Carlisle seems to have a hard time hanging on to police officers.

It’s not because of the working conditions or the community. It’s because of the low pay, and it’s something smaller communities like Carlisle have traditionally lived with, the village’s manager said.

Just when young officers get about two years of street experience under their belts, they move on to larger departments in neighboring communities for better pay and more career or specialization opportunities, Village Manager Sherry Callahan said.

In the past two months, one officer has left to go to another department and another officer is in the final stages of being recruited by another agency. Both officers have worked for Carlisle police for about two years, Callahan said.

During a council work-session Tuesday, Callahan said it takes six months to a year to fully field train an officer who ends up leaving for better pay and/or career opportunities. As the economy gets better, other communities are able to hire more officers at higher wages than Carlisle can afford, she said.

“Our police wages are way lower than others and are not competitive,” she said. “They need to make a competitive wage.”

If the village wants to keep seven full-time patrol officers, Callahan said the general fund budget reserve will be needed to cover the costs. Also, if there are any changes in the department, it will have be signed off by the Fraternal Order of Police who represents Carlisle officers. The current police contract with the FOP expires at the end of 2016.

In the past two years, Village Council has placed two income tax increases on the ballot to generate more revenues to cover the rising costs of police services. Both times, residents have soundly rejected those requests.

Now council has to explore other options, including: revoking the income tax reciprocity ordinance in which residents who work outside of the village are forgiven because they pay the income tax where they work; reducing the number of full-time officers from seven to six and use the funding for that position to supplement the wages of the remaining officers ; relying on mutual aid for emergencies when village officers are on other calls; and placing another tax issue on the ballot.

Police Chief Michael Bruck remembers feeling bad for other departments when he worked in Middletown whenever an officer was hired away from a smaller department. So far, Bruck has seen about a dozen officers leave Carlisle for various reasons. One officer remains on the job from when Bruck arrived six years ago.

“I’m starting to lose the people I’ve hired,” he said. “We can’t do much to enrich the career of a young officer because of the constant turnover.”

Bruck said it’s tough to keep two officers on the street when someone leaves for better pay and opportunities, but the situation becomes worse when an officer takes vacation or goes on medical leave.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “I applaud council for considering ways to find more money to encourage people to stay.”

With a budget of about $725,000 a year, tax dollars can only be stretched so far to protect the village, and with fewer officers, response times increase. The police budget has remained flat over the past few years and officials cited state-mandated changes to the municipal tax codes as well as continued reductions to the local government fund that came from from the state that further reduced city revenues. Callahan said the village has lost about $100,000 a year from the state funding cutbacks.

“Mr. (Gov. John) Kasich filled up his rainy day fund on the backs of local governments and schools,” Mayor Randy Winkler said. “When you call 911, you’re already having a bad day and no one wants to pay additional costs. Basically, it’s (police on the street) is an insurance policy you hope you won’t need.”

During Tuesday’s work-session, council members discussed reducing the number of full-time officers from seven to six by attrition and use those funds to supplement the wages of the other officers. They were also concerned about a possible rise in crime with fewer officers on the street, particularly with the heroin epidemic spurring more break-ins and thefts. Council members raised concerns about property values going down.

Councilman Brad McIntosh said, “I don’t think towns who cut cops flourish.”