As hundreds of unvaccinated city employees are placed on leave or facing termination, the city of Seattle will start offering hiring bonuses to Seattle Police Department and 911 dispatch hires to address “critical ongoing staffing challenges,” Mayor Jenny Durkan’s office said late Friday.
Durkan announced an emergency order that would provide hiring bonuses of up to $25,000 for laterally hired and $10,000 for newly hired officers and staff to the SPD and the Community Safety and Communications Center.
“When residents call 911, they expect an officer to show up — and when they call the 911 emergency line, they expect that someone will answer the phone,” Durkan said in a news release. “Hiring, recruiting and training takes months, and we need to act now to ensure we can have trained and deployable staff. Seattle cannot keep waiting to address the real public safety officer hiring and retention crisis we are experiencing in Seattle right now.”
Staffing in the city and nationwide had been strained by the pandemic, but took a further hit in Seattle last week when several hundred medically or religiously exempted employees were put on leave to await potential accommodations after Durkan’s citywide COVID-19 vaccine mandate went into effect.
Among those on leave were more than 170 first responders from SPD and the Seattle Fire Department.
Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, said Tuesday that SPD’s understaffing problem is less a product of the pandemic, and due instead to a lack of political support for police from the city, which he says began in the wake of protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd last year, and is highlighted by the recent vaccine mandate.
“The defunding narrative and the lack of political support has led hundreds of police officers to leave this city,” Solan said, noting that the department is under an emergency staffing procedure. “We’re already at a staffing crisis and then the mayor decides it’s a good idea to enact a mandate. And now since that mandate, we have 100 more officers not working the street.”
Solan said late Friday that the union would issue a statement in response to Durkan’s order on Saturday.
According to the mayor’s office, more than 250 officers have left the SPD in the last two years, causing slower response times and reducing the department’s capacity by over 300,000 service hours.
According to Durkan, the decision to award hiring incentives came after the Seattle City Council did not consider the mayor’s proposed ordinance in July, which would have restored funding to the Seattle Police Department and reinstated 2019 council-approved hiring incentives for the department.
Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz and Interim Director of the CSCC Chris Lombard endorsed the emergency order on Friday.
“Hiring is a challenge for every law enforcement agency right now, and most are offering incentives to attract new members,” Diaz said in the release. “These new hiring bonuses will level the competitive playing field and will allow the SPD to attract the highest caliber employees we need to protect and serve all people of Seattle.”
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When you mistreat the ones you had/have, why do you think you can find replacements?
Seriously, who in their right mind would want to be a law enforcement officer in one of these blue states where they will hang you out to dry if you even dare to misgender a suspect?!
Those who want to be BULLIES AND carry a gun may…..
Sounds like another Jenny Durkan version of Socialist “Team America- World Police” Durka, Durka moment of preplanned socialist redistribution of not just wealth but power from patriotic freedom loving Police into the hands of the world socialist education indoctrination graduates right off their already taxpayer funded Orwellian American University funny farms. “Big Brother” well armed Alkinsky motivated puppets will not only be watching you soon, but gunning for you as well. Protect and Serve morphed into pay for play. Just how much will they have to offer ALec Balwin to take the job of Chief of Police?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFrMLRQIT_k&list=RDr3awSn_ssl4&start_radio=1&rv=r3awSn_ssl4
“1984” read it by george orwell. become aware of history,too! we were founded on freedom.our ancestors escaped the tyranny of united kingdom,risking their lives and allowing the beginning of a country of and for the people not being watched every moment or controlled by power hungry socialistic,marxist idiots
Penny wise, pound foolish. Yes Son of thunder you are spot on. This is pure B. S.
They could drop the mandate and not have to pay anyone for getting the vaccine, wake up! Don’t tread on me!
Interesting. Offering New officers $25,000 signing bonuses, but to those who are loyal, experienced, know the neighborhoods they are protecting? What do they get? A pat on the back? Really nice Seattle. Just can’t get this right, can you?
What do they get? A pat on the back?
The didn’t get a pat on the back. They got fired for not getting the Covid vaccine shots.
Excellent point. Loyalty has NO reward in Seattle. They should give a retention bonus for Police that are there!
They got a boot up the butt, and a pink slip.
“Hiring is a challenge for every law enforcement agency right now, and most are offering incentives to attract new members,” Diaz said in the release.
Texas just graduated the largest Department of Public Safety officer class ever. No “incentives” and they know we’re in the middle of a border crisis. But we don’t mandate the jab or disrespect them.
A onetime bonus to be treated like **** isn’t going to draw many resumes.
Somehow liberals always have to learn the hard way, when it comes to stupid choices having expensive consequences! The sad thing is that they still think they’ve made smart decisions, even when the devastating consequences have so obviously proven them to be dead wrong. So the foolish people who voted the liberals into office in Seattle get to pay the tax bill for this stupid insanity.
Of course they think they are smart. BECAUSE THEY never face the Consequences of their actions.. ITS ONLY WE the people who do.
they have NO idea how we the commoners live! when is the last time they even drove themselves,shopped for bargains or at a dollar tree? they have private security,live in homes on the hill surrounded by secure cement fencing.secure cameras and such. they all should be required to live(Honestly as we lowly subjects) No photo ops accepted
And they’ll still probably have a hard time getting people to sign on because very few people want to put their lives on the line for people who will throw them under the bus, make them scapegoats for any and every perceived problem, and tie their hands in actually stopping crime.
majority that sign up to be a police or sheriff do it for the right reason.(unfortunately a few bad apples make it to the force) of which is covered in such a way that all are labeled that way. not much do you see of all that do the right thing and protect us. help many and even give of thier time and money to good causes.