From
Lisa Norris
Title
Ordinance that details, supplements, and amends the existing Special Pay Ordinance (Ordinance No. 9948 from October 2015) by modifying the Seniority Pay affecting Lateral Entry for Police Officers under specified circumstances
Presenter
Chief Steve Dye
Recommended Action
Approve
Analysis
The City of Grand Prairie actively recruits for strong candidates, both experienced and new to the profession, to join our exceptional public safety team and meet our high standards. Cities throughout the Metroplex have become increasingly competitive in efforts to attract qualified, highly educated, and in some cases, previously trained officers in order to contend with the increased demands and complexities of modern policing. The Grand Prairie Police Department continues to be one of the most attractive departments in the Metroplex due to our progressive training, outstanding facilities, modern technology, exceptional equipment, and competitive levels of pay. In order to maintain a leading position in recruitment of top tiered candidates, the Department seeks to modify our lateral entry pay (special pay) program to simplify recruitment, administration and provide flexibility in considering candidates who have prior peace officer experience. The current provisions were set to consider the prior policing agency size in comparison to ours, as well as require at least three years of prior experience to qualify. This has become burdensome to both Human Resources and our Police Recruitment team in trying to validate the prior agency size, number of sworn officers and detail currently required.
Through this ordinance, we recommend a simplified set of rules for lateral entry into our pay system if a candidate has the qualifying experience. The ordinance change allows greater flexibility and simplified administration, as well as widening the opportunity to recruit experienced talent in a competitive market. We are proposing reducing the three-...
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