(8/28) Following the resignation of Carroll Valley police officer Erik Pfeiffer, borough council members discussed the ongoing issue of the hiring and retention of local police officers in their area. Board president Richard Matthews said, "with Carol Valley’s small community, low crime rate, and little opportunities for advancement, we’re going to continue to lose people." He called the community a "training ground" for law enforcement personnel before going off to bigger and better paying departments.
Council member John Schubring suggested a different approach for hiring applicants, "I think the status quo will continue as long as we bring on young officers, period. They’re not going to stay." One idea he recommended during a search was focusing on applicants that were ready to settle down. "I think that we should take the bull by the horns and really make an effective change here for the better and not just accept mediocrity in staffing our police force," Schubring said.
"What you’re talking about doing, I support you 100%. However, it may cost you $20-$30k more a year," said Borough Manager Dave Hazlett. In response, Chief of Police Richard Hileman said most police department pension plans don’t promote mobility, once they’re so long into that pension system, it’d be foolish of them to leave it."
"While Carroll Valley Borough offers fantastic employee benefits, but it doesn’t make us stand out", said Hazlett. "This is a standard package that is offered to police officers everywhere across the country. If you want to attract somebody, you’re going to do so with a higher salary. You could go just about anywhere and find someone with five years’ experience that is going to be making significantly more money than $51,000," which is the average salary for a Carroll Valley probationary police officer, according to Hazlett.
"If you want to hire somebody who has a ton of experience, you must pay them like they have a ton of experience," said Hileman. "Pay scale tends to run on five years. You hire them at a rookie level and in five years, you’ve got a quality, polished professional working for you."
An advertisement was approved for the Civil Service Commission to produce a list of eligible candidates for the full-time police officer position with the starting salary of $51,345 to $65,000 depending on the experience.
