Vallejo cops seek greener pastures nearby

Vallejo Times-Herald

February 1, 2010

By Lanz Christian Bañes

Vallejo is "lateraling" more and more experienced police officers to nearby Bay Area cities as more layoffs loom in the near future for the bankrupt city.

By mid-February, the Hayward Police Department will employ five former Vallejo police officers. Three more have been hired by the Richmond Police Department, which is also processing 24 other applicants from Vallejo, Richmond Lt. Mark Gagan said.

"(Vallejo officers) all come with a wealth of experience, and I think they work in a proactive environment, so they're very much what we're looking for in Hayward," said Hayward Police Chief Ron Ace.

The Vallejo police force stands at 104 officers until Feb. 16, when two of them will be sworn in on Hayward's force. A third former Vallejo officer -- one of two laid off Jan. 15 -- will be sworn in as a Hayward officer that day, Vallejo Lt. Abel Tenorio said.

The three will join the two Vallejo officers who already are at Hayward, Ace said.

Like many agencies, the Hayward Police Department was forced to tighten its belt as the city dealt with budget issues. But after the city passed a utility tax in May and received stimulus funds, the department was not only able to maintain its staffing levels but also expanded to 200 officers, Ace said.

Since August, the city of 155,000 has hired about 15 officers to replace vacancies and the nine added positions. No officers were laid off due to budget cuts, Ace said.

Ace said he let it be known to the Vallejo Police Department that his agency was hiring when it became apparent Vallejo could lose some officers to layoffs. Vallejo city staff is considering further police layoffs in July as city budget woes continue.

While the addition of the Vallejo officers brings Hayward's force to 200 and completes the agency's hiring process, the Richmond Police Department is still accepting applications, Gagan said.

"We anticipate we're going to fill 15 vacancies by the end of this fiscal year," Gagan said.

Two of the three former officers from Vallejo at Richmond's department were sworn in Jan. 11. Throughout last week, the number of Vallejo officers applying for positions at the department continued to grow, Gagan said through numerous interviews. There were 24 applications from current Vallejo officers as of Friday.

The Richmond Police Department has a force of 188 sworn officers with a maximum of 198 in a city of about 100,000. The 15 vacancies include anticipated retirements and promotions, Gagan said.

Like Ace, Gagan extolled the virtues of lateral hires such as those from Vallejo. A lateral hire is an experienced police officer rather than a fresh recruit.

"Keep in mind that it takes two years to recruit, hire and train a new officer. ... It makes (laterals) very valuable commodities," Gagan said.

The city of Richmond also found itself in dire straits several years ago, with reduced budgets prompting a reduction of police services, Gagan said. This included eliminating detective positions that dealt with misdemeanor crimes, among other measures.

"The effects of losing these positions have been with us until just recently," said Gagan, adding that officers took a 10 percent pay cut and gave up all raises until 2008.

"We now have a contract from 2008 to 2012, a 20 percent pay increase and we have the full support of our city council and city manager to hire back to full strength," Gagan said.

The relationship between Vallejo's public unions and the city council have been acrimonious in recent years as the city descended into bankruptcy, with much blame going toward the public union contracts.

But the Hayward chief has described the Vallejo officers now under his command as very loyal and reluctant to leave their police department.

"Obviously, they're a loss for Vallejo, but there's a significant gain for Hayward and other departments they might have gone to," Ace said.