NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)—The Civil Service Commission has decided to approve the City’s request for a recruiting incentive worth $30-thousand dollars per recruit with some changes to the plan to give more compensation to current officers.
The City says getting more police officers basically boils down to recruitment, retention, and resources with the greatest emphasis on recruitment.
Chief Administrative Officer Gilbert Montano said, “Takes us one step closer to developing a full cohesive package to recruit and retain police officers that are desperately needed.”
New hires could receive a $30-thousand dollar financial incentive package within their first four years of service. Current officers would receive an additional $10-thousand dollar payment in 2025. The Civil Service Commission raised their concern that the plan does not do enough to retain certain officers.
Mark Surprenant with Civil Service Commission said, “No recruit during the first 3 years this plan is in effect is ever going to make more money than one of the police officers that is currently employed.”
Ultimately the Civil Service Commission added amendments to the City’s proposal that it considers fair for both current officers and recruits.
“It just affected a small class of officers that weren’t part if a recruit class—150 officers on the high end that would qualify for $5,000 bonuses that recruits would. This was a huge hurdle that we jumped over,” Montano said.