“We are not fully staffed. This is premature and reckless,” said Kent Loux, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild.
Seattle police are facing another setback in their effort to hire more officers, with the department announcing it is pausing hiring incentives because of budget concerns. There is no clear timeline for when the incentives will return.
The Seattle Police Department said it will stop offering hiring incentives beginning Sept. 1 until officials have a clearer picture of the department’s budget forecast.
“We are not fully staffed. This is premature and reckless,” said Kent Loux, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild.
For years, new SPD officers have received hiring incentives currently set at $7,500, plus up to $5,000 in moving expenses for entry-level officers. Lateral officers, or those transferring from other departments, could receive a $50,000 hiring incentive plus up to $7,500 in moving expenses.
All of that is now on hold as the department awaits more clarity on the city budget.
“You have to be competitive,” Loux said. “I can go to Renton PD, and I can get a $40,000 lateral bonus. I can go to all these other cities and get lateral bonuses, and now we’re not just going to drop it from $50,000 to $30,000. We’re going to drop it from $50,000 to zero.”
As SPD works toward full staffing, the department remains hundreds of officers short of its staffing goals, with only 927 deployable officers.
“Although SPD is still down hundreds of officers, those incentives are working, so why put a stop to them now?” said former Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson.
Nelson sponsored the incentives in 2022 in response to residents’ concerns about police response times and public safety. She also called the decision to pause the incentives “reckless and premature.”
“I don’t know how long the pause is going to last, but we just came off a pretty big scandal with the firing of the police chief — well, asking for his resignation,” Nelson said. “So when people see instability in our police department from the outside, it’s a disincentive to apply to work in that police department.”
So far this year, SPD has hired 108 people. The department said it has received more than 3,700 applications for entry-level and lateral officer positions. Of those applicants, 982 are eligible for entry-level positions, and 34 are eligible for lateral positions.
The pause does not take effect until Sept. 1, meaning anyone who applies or is currently going through the hiring process before that deadline will still receive the incentives.
