The West Virginia University Police Department is sweetening the pot for potential new officer recruits with some new incentives going into place starting in July.
UPD Chief Sherry St. Clair said they looked at market adjustment and merit raises to get the department’s officers back up to being competitive with Morgantown and other agencies in the county.
New hires will now start at $22 per hour if they are coming in uncertified, St. Clair said. Once all training is completed with the state police academy, the rate will be raised to $23 per hour.
One year after completing training, rookies can go up to private first class at $24.30, she said. The annual salary would be just over $50,000.
Aside from the pay raise, St. Clair said UPD is able to offer some additional incentives that other local departments cannot.
“One of the other big things we have that some of the other departments are struggling with is our time off,” she said. “Starting off you get 15 days of vacation and you also get 18 days of sick time. The university also has around 13 paid holidays.”
Earlier this year, the department also implemented 12-hour shifts, which allows their officers to work three days a week and get four days off.
“A lot of our guys like that because they get a lot of time off,” St. Clair said.
Because of the large amount of events and gatherings hosted at WVU, UPD officers will also have plenty of opportunity for overtime.
St. Clair said the department is perfect for those considering a career in law enforcement who are unable to wait for testing dates at other departments.
“The good thing about us is we are always open for hiring and you can always apply. We don’t have a civil service test or anything,” she said.
“Our first thing is basically doing physical therapy to make sure you meet the qualifications to get into the academy, then you do an interview, go through a background check, a polygraph, a psych evaluation, and a drug screening.”
Like the majority of police agencies in the area, UPD is struggling to find recruits and is currently eight officers down.
St. Clair said one of the reasons they had a lot of people leave was pay, but they have now corrected that to be more competitive.
The chief said she felt the current trend is not to become a police officer and most people are looking for jobs outside of law enforcement.
“We want to get people back into it,” she said. “There is more to being a police officer and helping people and helping the community than I think people realize is really there.
“I think with the younger people coming out of college — we need to show them there is a lot more to do in law enforcement.”
St. Clair said as soon as they get three or four people to apply they start the hiring process. Interested applicants can find more information and apply online at any time by visiting careers.wvu.edu.
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