ATTACHMENT 1
POLICE DEPARTMENT DATA AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION
A. Comparison of Current Police Department Salaries in San Mateo County Agencies
COMPARISON OF CURRENT POLICE DEPARTMENT SALARIES IN SAN
MATEO COUNTY AGENCIES
Agency Annual Salary
Police Officers
Annual Salary
Sergeants
Fiscal Year of
Contract
Atherton $ 133,662.00 $ 162,635.00 2022
Belmont $ 130,805.28 $ 154,020.00 2020
Brisbane $ 116,529.60 $ 140,395.20 2022
Broadmoor $ 117,795.13 $ 131,338.66 2022
Burlingame $ 118,028.18 $ 143,149.00 2022
Colma $ 141,195.60 $ 149,424.00 2022
Daly City $ 120,695.52 $ 164,790.00 2021
East Palo Alto $ 116,857.00 $ 140,883.20 2021
Foster City $ 126,180.00 $ 152,508.00 2021
Hillsborough $ 128,726.00 $ 157,612.00 2022
Menlo Park $ 133,216.00 $ 164,885.00 2021
Millbrae $ 121,511.28 $ 146,616.00 2021
Pacifica $ 118,764.00 $ 146,940.00 2021
Redwood City $ 150,372.00 $ 182,664.00 2020
San Bruno $ 121,212.00 $ 149,280.00 2021
San Mateo $ 147,878.64 $ 170,614.08 2022
Sheriff's Office $ 121,511.28 $ 146,616.00 2021
South San Francisco $ 125,112.00 $ 150,342.40 2022
County Average $ 123.311.64 $149,883.20 NA
B. East Palo Alto Police Department Sworn Positions Status by Category
EAST PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT SWORN POSITIONS STATUS BY
CATEGORY
Category Number
Total Budgeted 36
Vacancies 9
Out on Leave 4
Available for Active Duty 23
In Process with Other Agencies 6
Potential Active Duty as Early as July 2022 17
C. East Palo Alto Police Officers Leaving for Other Jurisdictions (Since 2008)
EAST PALO ALTO POLICE OFFICERS LEAVING FOR OTHER JURISDICTIONS Jurisdiction Count
San Francisco 4
San Mateo County Sheriff 4
Milpitas 3
Daly City 2
Redwood City 2
Other 8
TOTAL 23
D. East Palo Alto Police Department Years of Service
EAST PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT YEARS OF SERVICE
Years Number of Sworn
32-35 2
23-31 0
20-22 3
15-19 3
10-14 3
5-9 4
0-4 12
TOTAL 27
E. Cost to Hire New Police Recruits
The recruitment, training, and retaining of new police officers is a costly endeavor for the City.
Many costs associated with hiring new officers related to compensation for academy costs, and, in some cases, a salary during academy training. As such the costs for hiring a new officer who does not have to attend the academy are measurably preferable to the cost of sending a new officer to the academy:
COSTS OF HIRING NEW POLICE RECRUITS
Recruit Status Cost
Completed Academy $6,500
Must Attend Academy $41,000
It may be prudent to establish incentive programs to attract more candidates to apply to the City who have already graduated from an eligible police academy. It may also be prudent to develop retention strategies to ensure that the City benefits from the investment in recruiting and hiring police officers.
F. Hiring Bonuses
Several neighboring jurisdictions are offering signing bonuses to lure policer officers to join their departments. The chart below provides an sampling of local Bay Area hiring bonuses for new officers:
LOCAL JURISDICTION POLICE OFFICER HIRING / SIGNING BONUSES Agency Amount
Alameda County Sheriff $ 10,000
San Jose State PD $ 10,000
Fairfield PD $ 10,000
Daly City PD $ 10,000
BART PD $ 15,000
Benicia PD $ 15,000
Hayward PD $ 20,000
Alameda PD $ 30,000
San Mateo County Sheriff $ 30,000
San Mateo PD $ 30,000
Scotts Valley $ 40,000
It may be prudent for the City develop a hiring bonus incentive that mirrors that of the San Mateo County Sheriff, which is the most frequent destination of former East Palo Alto officers since 2008. As indicated in section E above, the costs to the City to send a potential officer to the police academy as a recruit ($41,000) is much greater than the cost of hiring officers from other jurisdictions who have already graduated from the academy. Cost savings may result even if the City were to pay a hiring incentive similar to that of the San Mateo County Sheriff.
G. CalPers Issue
The City of East Palo Alto joined the CalPERS retirement system in 2001. As such, many of the City’s workforce have not accrued the number of years in CalPERS that might otherwise lead them to seek retirement. Perhaps related to this issue, a number of City employees have reported that they continue to work for financial reasons, particularly to retain access to good health care plans, when they would otherwise choose to retire. This is true of employees in the Police Department, who may appreciate consideration of incentives to retirement.
Staff is aware that other labor groups may seek more information on this unique issue during the upcoming bargaining sessions.