New Ipswich Chief of Police Michael Abel requested the town adopt some combination of incentive initiatives to attract and retain police officers.
Abel met with the New Ipswich selectmen Tuesday to outline proposals for possible scenarios where officers on the force could earn bonuses for things like maintaining fitness, longevity on the force and educational incentives, as well as the possibility of offering better benefits.
Select Board members were not opposed to integrating some of the incentives into the upcoming 2023-2024 budget, and directed Abel to select a few of the proposed incentives and integrate them into his budget proposal for the upcoming year to discuss with both the Finance Advisory Committee and the Select Board.
Abel said the department is currently fully staffed, but the town, like many employers, has been struggling with finding employees.
“Everyone is looking for employees in all sectors,” Abel said. “It seems wherever I turn, people are having a hard time getting staff.”
Abel spoke of several options for incentives for police officers, but said he was not expecting the town to adopt all of them, merely presenting it as a list of options to choose from.
One of the suggestions he proposed was a $400 annual physical fitness bonus. New Ipswich police, like all police officers, must pass a physical fitness standard test set by New Hampshire Police Standards and Training every three years. Abel suggested that any officer who voluntarily took and passed the test annually be awarded a bonus, noting it was to the town’s benefit that police maintain their fitness level, and a bonus would help to offset expenses such as a gym membership to maintain that fitness level. Abel proposed the benefit be available to full-time officers, resulting in a maximum annual cost of $2,400.
Another incentive Abel proposed for full-time officers only was a proposed $1,000 annual bonus for officers with an associate’s degree, $1,500 for a bachelor’s degree and $2,000 for a master’s degree. There are currently two New Ipswich officers with associate’s degrees and three with bachelor’s degrees.
Selectman Jason Somero asked if there was an appreciable difference between officers who had a post-secondary education and those who had not. Abel said he has seen excellent officers without any college degree, but those who have them often have developed better office skills with computer programs and often have better written communication skills.
Somero observed that he liked to “reward performance,” and asked if there was a way to measure and reward that. Abel said the current annual review process could be used for such a purpose, but would likely have to be modified and a merit-based bonus or raise structure would have to be standardized in some way.
Abel also proposed implementing bonuses for officers who remained in New Ipswich for multiple years, with larger bonuses for longer years of service. Those who remained with the town for a year to five years would earn a $350 bonus, while those who remained for six to 10 would earn a $650 bonus, those with 11 to 15 years of service would get a $750 bonus and greater than that would earn a $1,000 annual bonus.
Currently, Abel said the town has four officers and an administrator who have been with the town less than five years and two who have been with the department for more than six but less than 10, resulting in a proposed $2,850 increase in the budget.
Somero said out of the ideas discussed on Tuesday, a “longevity pay or bonus seems to make sense.”
“Seems to me, at a minimum, take No. 1 and stick it in your budget. I don’t think you’ll gain much resistance here,” Somero said.
Another option, Abel said, was to add a shift differential, to make evening coverage more attractive for officers. Abel proposed an additional 50 cents per hour for an evening shift, which would carry an annual cost of about $2,340. New Ipswich does not currently have an overnight shift, but if it did ever adopt one in the future, Abel suggested a 75-cent differential. If there were ever an overnight shift added, the shift differential would add about $1,560 to the budget.
The board also discussed with Abel other incentives, including adding short- or long-term disability insurance, or a $6,000 insurance stipend to those who did not participate in the town’s health insurance benefit, and tuition reimbursement.
The board also discussed a possible one-time sign-on bonus for new officers, where a new officer would be offered $6,000 over a three-year period when first joining the department. The first payment would be upon completion of the police academy, the second after a one-year probationary period and the third at the end of the second year of employment. Abel suggested an annual budget of $8,000 for this purpose, but said currently, the department has a full roster.
Select Board Chair Shawn Talbot said the suggestions, even if multiple suggestions were implemented at the same time, weren’t unreasonable for the department.
Talbot agreed with Somero that a longevity bonus was a good start, but said the physical fitness bonus, longevity pay, shift differential, education bonus and sign-on bonuses would altogether be a $22,090 increase. The current police budget for fiscal 2022 is $800,683.
“Most of this list, even when you take it altogether, is pretty inexpensive,” Talbot said.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.