With the county commissioner’s approval of the new contract on Tuesday, the lieutenant at the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office will complete the academy and become the highest-paid law enforcement officer in the state after a one-year probationary period.
Beginning July 1st, BCSO first-class lawmakers will begin earning $35.72 an hour, a net pay increase of 17%. New hires will also receive a $10,000 hiring bonus. External hires (who have law enforcement experience at other agencies) can receive a $15,000 bonus in cash.
Sheriff John Allen said the department has been plagued by increased job cuts, early retirements and difficulty recruiting new employees, all of which are motivating the department to seek a big pay rise. For many years, the department did not keep up with the salaries of other agencies, such as the Albuquerque Police Department, Allen said.
“What I was worried about was if I didn’t get a raise,” Allen said, adding that if the new contract wasn’t accepted, it would lead to additional losses and rollovers to other law enforcement agencies. raised concerns.
Allen said the new salary grades will bring higher salaries to new hires sooner than comparable agencies. Second-class officers start at $23.66 an hour, which is lower than second-class officers in the Albuquerque Police Department and new recruits in the Hobbes and Las Cruces Police Departments, but as officers move into the department, their salaries increase. The salary soon surpassed that of other police officers. First class classification.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Secretary Walt Benson said BCSO lawmakers were being “cannibalized” by other highly paid agencies. Benson told Barron’s he hoped the raise would help hiring.
The increase comes just weeks after the APD announced that it would also raise salaries for several positions, including cadets, patrolmen, side officers and police aides, ranging from 5% to 37%.
Allen said the BCSO is currently short of 47 lawmakers, and that shortage puts additional strain on other staff.
“It’s dripping,” Allen said. “You can’t put people in a professional unit, like detectives, and after a while it becomes the fire that was burning in the pit. There is no salvation for me.”
And with fewer legislators in more general categories, there is little opportunity for advancement, Allen said.
In addition, the firm was paying increased overtime pay, notably the county court attorney, who received a raise in another contract negotiation with the county on Tuesday. Allen said the BCSO paid legal counsel $1.1 million in overtime last year. If there is a shortage of legal representatives, regular representatives will have to fill them, further straining the BCSO staff.
“Overtime is always there, but you shouldn’t rely on it to survive,” Allen said. “It’s just a profit. So raising the base salary is a huge deal.”
Allen said applications to the firm have increased since the BCSO announced talks to raise wages, and he knows at least two people who decided to delay their retirement after a raise was secured. said.
“Money talks, that’s the point,” Allen said.
