Police chief proposes hiring bonus for first responders
By Hannah Mackenzie
Click here for updates on this story
HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — As police departments across the country face staffing shortages, Hendersonville Police Chief Blair Myhand proposed a solution to fill local vacancies.
“We need to do something, because the applications are just not coming through,” Myhand said.
According to Myhand, the Hendersonville Police Department is down seven employees – 10% of its staff.
“This is just not an attractive profession to be in right now,” Myhand said.
In an effort to recruit and retain qualified officers, Myhand has proposed a hiring bonus.
“I used to see about 50 police applicants in a 30-day period,” Myhand said. “Most recently, I only got 11, and, of that, only three of those had any police experience. We want to be competitive, and we want to hire good people here.”
Myhand said the hiring bonus would be paid to employees in increments.
“I’d like to see a tiered program,” Myhand said. “As soon as we hire someone, they get a portion of the bonus, maybe another portion after they complete training and then the remainder of it at the end of a year.”
During a Sept. 22 Hendersonville City Council meeting, Myhand proposed a $5,000 hiring bonus for all new police employees.
Council members appeared on board with offering a hiring incentive.
“We have to do whatever is necessary to build our staff up,” Hendersonville City Councilman Jeff Miller said.
According to Miller, any hiring bonus package the board approves likely won’t stop with police officers. Miller said they’d extend the hiring incentive plan to all first responders.
Hendersonville Fire Chief James Miller said he is looking to fill two positions.
“The job market is pretty tight right now,” Miller said.
According to Miller, being able to offer a bonus to prospective candidates would give Hendersonville a major advantage in making quality hires.
“We’re competing with other neighboring municipalities and towns and counties that are looking for great candidates, as well,” Miller said.
The proposed hiring bonus would also have a perk for current employees. Existing first responders would receive a referral bonus for recommended applicants hired on.
Hendersonville City Council members agreed to discuss the proposal further. Details and logistics will be hashed out at their next meeting on Oct. 7.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
