4-09-2024 9:32pm

Brooklyn Park Uses Incentives To Fill Police Officer Ranks

Tom Akaolisa Editor

A police shortage in Brooklyn Park now has the department looking to see if it can bolster its ranks by luring away officers from other cities.

Back in February, the Brooklyn Park Police Department held a swearing-in ceremony to welcome five new officers to the force. It was certainly a joyous occasion, but even with the new recruits, the department’s overall staffing numbers are less than ideal.

“We’re in a tough situation,” said Brooklyn Park Police Inspector Elliot Faust.

Faust says that their workforce is down 20 percent of where it should be.

“We lost three officers last week,” he said. “We are just shy of 90 and we’re authorized for 109.”

To help fill that gap, they’re making a push to hire “lateral officers” from other departments. Lateral officers are not only experienced, but they require less training.

“Especially folks that maybe already come from a Hennepin County agency,” Faust said. “They’re familiar with the radio system, they’re familiar with the jail procedures, booking procedures, paperwork, maybe geography. I mean all those things are one less piece of the learning puzzle that we have to put together when we take them on.”

Lateral officers who come to Brooklyn Park receive a $5,000 signing bonus, wages between $41.93 to $49.91 an hour, and a slew of benefits.

“This is a great place to work,” said Faust. “The pay is very good. The job is challenging. It’s fulfilling. We have great technology. We have dedication to training. I mean, I don’t know what more you would be looking for in an organization.”

It’s an important message to send if they want to bolster their ranks, because they’re not the only department offering incentives.

“It does seem like everybody is kind of stealing from each other,” Faust said. “And that is a little bit of the nature the beast. We have lost some officers to other organizations for a variety of reasons.”

Meanwhile, Faust says that the department will likely put around 20 cadets through their field training process this year, which should help shore up some of the staffing issues.