The St. Louis City Police say they have one of the best benefits packages of any department in the region. Is it helping with recruiting new officers?
That line of questioning was presented to Police Chief Robert Tracy by Mayor Cara Spencer, as her and the state appointed commissioners work towards building next year's budget.
Chief Tracy says while the benefits are attractive to older, current officers, there's one thing that matters when it comes to recruiting younger new ones.
"These young men and women, that want to come into this profession, they're not thinking 20 years down the road. They're thinking immediately, 'what is the [salary] so I can bring that money in for my family.'"
Tracy says while competing for newcomers at events with other departments and military recruiters, see others displaying their salary prominently to attract recruits.
"All these other police departments, they put their salary [on display] and they start right there and these young men and women come up and say they're coming up to this police department because of the economics."
Tracy says while they don't mislead any recruits about their starting salary, they can't market it like other departments.
"We, at the St. Louis City Police Department, cannot put [salaries] up there because it would discourage people."
The city has, for years, been struggling to fill vacancies within the department. Significant raises in recent years have helped stave off losses but the city still lags behind many departments in the region.
As of January, the department has 845 commissioned officers out of a budgeted strength of 1,100 officers. There are another 26 recruits in the academy as of that time.
Mayor Spencer, in a press conference after the meeting, floated the idea that higher salaries could come if the benefits package wasn't so costly.
"It comes at an enormous cost to our city taxpayers. A cost, frankly, that could certainly go towards salaries for our new and existing police officers."
The benefits package cost recently increased, when the bill that shifted control of the department from the City to a Governor appointed board of commissioners required St. Louis to pay for an officer's health insurance for life. The city is also fighting back against the bill that would hold them liable for civil lawsuits against officers.
Mayor Spencer was asked about shifting the recruting pitch from salary to salary package. She says they need to be efficient with their money in order to see more recruits join the department.
"Are we investing the limited and finite revenue that the city has and doing it in the most effective way to attract new officers to the profession? Not just policing but policing for SLMPD."
The new state appointed Board of Police Commissioners is currently working through their proposed budget for the first time, announcing their intentions to be more transparent and collaborative with the Mayors office. The shift comes after their original proposal, a $47 million budget increase, would have bankrupted the city resulting in mass layoffs and cuts to services according to Mayor Spencer.
When asked if benefits could be cut in order to raise salaries, Board President Chris Saracino did not say no.
"If we didn't look at this in a holistic way, then we probably wouldn't be doing our job... We do definitely need to look at every aspect of this."
KMOX has reached out to representatives of the St. Louis City Police Officer's Association for comment and is awaiting a response.