$10,000 Bonuses For Police Transfers Not Working?

Milwaukee Police Department. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The offer to give existing police officers $10,000 to transfer to the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) isn’t being greeted with great fanfare by the Common Council nor potential applicants.

As of last week, the city had found only six of the 30 candidates it is seeking before a Dec. 22 deadline. And on Tuesday, the Common Council came within a single vote of killing the cash bonus.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Police Chief Jeffrey Norman announced the offer on Nov. 25.

It came as the city, like many others, has struggled to hire new officers, but also as Milwaukee has more funding and staffing level requirements as a result of Act 12, the 2023 state sales tax law.

With more funding, the city appeared to be able to meet the targets for staffing set by the state. However, it has struggled to hire enough recruits to fill its recruiting classes. One tool for the city: switching to the state’s pension system for all new employees, a result of Act 12, creates an opportunity by allowing officers from other jurisdictions to transfer to the city without restarting their pension.

But council members have concerns about transfers, and the use of cash bonuses to induce them.

During Tuesday’s council meeting, members expressed their concern with the quality of candidates possibly being hired, the nature of how the staffing requirements were established, the potential $300,000 cost and the lack of a formal plan for hiring.

“Let us not forget how we got here,” said Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic. The minimum staffing levels, she said, were “forced upon us by Republican lawmakers” and created “arbitrarily.”

She said she favored a community liaison officer in her district rather than paying cash bonuses. The alderwoman suggested cash bonuses should be used to hire bilingual officers or officers that live in the city.

“I don’t think we should do this until we have a concrete recruitment plan that’s in place,” said Council President José G. Pérez of the bonuses. “This feels like somewhat of a desperate attempt.”

“I think it has to be a whole approach that is complete,” said Ald. Andrea Pratt, stressing the need to focus on retention.

Ald. Milele A. Coggs said the hiring targets were a “poison pill” and she is concerned about wandering officers, a phenomenon where officers transfer to avoid discipline. Ald. Mark Chambers, Jr. said the bonuses could open a pandora’s box on police recruiting.

Ald. Peter Burgelis, the council champion of the proposal, said the $10,000 offer was actually lower than other large cities were offering and that the city needed to act to meet the Act 12 requirements. Ald. Larresa Taylor said the amount wasn’t “outlandish” and was similar to those for other in-demand jobs. She said the city would save money by having a shorter training period for the transfers versus new recruits.

Dimitrijevic, Pérez, Pratt, Chambers and Robert Bauman voted against allocating funding for the proposal. Coggs abstained. It passed 8-5-1.

In a Finance & Personnel Committee meeting on Dec. 11, administration officials defended the program and said it’s one of several things the city needs to do to meet its minimum staffing level target.

“We are literally in a situation where we face… a $37 million potential penalty if we fall even one-tenth of one officer below the threshold,” said Innovation Director Jim Bohl. The city would suffer a cut in state shared revenue for failing to meet the target.

“We originally anticipated somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 laterals [police transferring from other jurisdictions] being hired. Our current numbers show we have 28 applications, but as of right now it appears only six of those meet the minimum qualifications,” said Fire & Police Commission Executive Director Leon W. Todd, III.

He said the city often sees better recruiting success in the summer and would continue to try different strategies.

Those who were ineligible included applicants who were security guards, not sworn police officers with at least one year of experience, and those who were previously MPD officers.

“It’s still a referral, it’s still a lead, it’s still someone that wants to join the department,” said Burgelis, suggesting those ineligible could attend the regular training academy.

But Todd couldn’t immediately confirm that a recruiter was following up with the transfer applications.

Meanwhile, another issue looms on hiring laterals. A memorandum of understanding with the Milwaukee Police Association, the rank-and-file union, to allow lateral transfers expires in September 2025. The union’s overall collective bargaining agreement expired in 2022.

The Fire & Police Commission opened recruitment for lateral transfers in September. It runs through Dec. 22.

After the meeting Tuesday, the Mayor’s Office sent out a press release encouraging more applicants to sign up.

For more on the cash bonuses, see our coverage from Nov. 25.

Controversy Vanishes on Labor Negotiator

While the $10,000 offer is criticized, criticism has disappeared around another thorny public safety issue: the open position of labor negotiator.

The city’s labor negotiator Veronica Rudychev, in the role since May, died in late October.

After a public misstep on hiring a new labor negotiator, where a candidate was revealed and then withdrew, the mayor proposed to place his chief of staff Nick DeSiato in the role on a temporary basis. But the council delayed an attempt to fast-track DeSiato’s hiring, sending him back for a full committee review.

The job has increased importance because both the rank-and-file police and fire contracts, which expired at the end of 2022, are in the process of being renegotiated.

After facing several questions in front of the full council in November, opposition vanished when DeSiato appeared before the finance committee on Dec. 11. But the review came after the committee had a closed session briefing on the state of the labor negotiations. He was approved unanimously by the full council Tuesday.

“This is a crucial time for us and it’s an opportunity for us to move forward in the interim,” said DeSiato on Dec. 11. He said he would prioritize his role as the labor negotiator until a permanent hire is found and draw only his current salary.

Applications are being accepted until Jan. 3.

For more on the labor negotiator kerfuffle, see our coverage from Nov. 26.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this article had an incorrect vote count.

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