by Chuck Oxley, Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho, (AP) - The state is losing highly trained police troopers to other jobs because of lower pay, fewer benefits and poor morale.
During the past few years, state-trained officers have left for Seattle, Spokane and local metropolitan police forces.
Kip Wills, 33, started his law enforcement career with the Teton County Sheriff’s Department before spending four years as an Idaho State trooper. His father is a 30-year veteran of the department, and his brother is also a member of the elite police fraternity.
But for Kip, the low salary, high workload and job stress led him to trade in his distinctive Smokey Bear-style campaign hat for a Boise City policeman’s badge. Now he works in the city’s commercial vehicle enforcement division.
“I truly loved the job as a trooper, and I miss the work but not the stress,” Wills said. “This year, I’m going to make more money than my father, and that’s not right.”
In Idaho, troopers start at $32,250 a year and reach maximum average pay in three years, at $37,752. An Idaho Department of Labor comparison estimates that on average, troopers make about as much as postal clerks, loan counselors, electricians or building inspectors, among other trades and professions.
In Boise, new officers start at about the same pay, but veteran officers earns more than $50,000 a year, and their employment is backed up by a collective bargaining agreement.
Idaho’s reputation for producing quality law officers also has the attention of other agencies around the Northwest. Seattle police recruiter Jim Ritter, who attended a job fair in Lewiston this past week, acknowledges that Idaho has been fertile ground.
In Seattle, a recruit earns just over $46,000 a year and will earn $54,000 after five years of service. Ritter has hired one Idaho trooper recently and has talked to others.
“It’s not to take away the good officers from Idaho - but if they’re going to leave, we’d like to have them come here,” Ritter said.
Idaho State Police spokeswoman Ann Thompson said retention has been an issue in Idaho for a long time, and the department expects some troopers to leave for higher-paying venues.
“Is it a huge problem? No, but it’s a reality,” Thompson said.
Tim O’Leary, human resources manager for the State Police, said that in the past couple of years the department has lost three troopers to the Boise department, one to Seattle and one to Spokane.
O’Leary estimates that each new recruit costs $20,000 just to get through the hiring process and another $70,000 to train at the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Academy. He said those who leave tend to do so after about three years of service.
“These are troopers we started from scratch, and they were just becoming productive,” O’Leary said.
Privately, Idaho troopers grouse about the pay, benefits and morale problems. But they are reluctant to speak publicly, especially about internal issues.
Wills said he and many of his friends who remain troopers think the command structure of the state police agency is top-heavy with administrators, leaving too much of the work to too few street-level officers.
Wills is now a vice president of the Boise Police officer’s union and was careful to say his view should not be construed as that of Boise Police Department. But he points out that the Idaho State Police have seven officers who hold the rank of major to oversee a work force of about 300 employees. In New Jersey, 10 majors oversee a force of 2,700.
In Idaho, a state police major earns between $63,772 and $79,705, according to Labor Department statistics.
Thompson said Idaho State Police Director E.D. Strickfaden is aware that some troopers feel the department has too many supervisors.
“It’s not like that’s a hidden bone of contention,” she said. However, she said Strickfaden knows about the complaint because officers feel comfortable making their views known to him.
Robert Wells, who represents the State Police Association before the Legislature, said lawmakers must address pay equity issues or continue to lose Idaho-trained troopers.
“Most people in state police are extremely loyal. They do the job because they love the job. We need to find some sort of long-term fix to ongoing pay issues,” Wells said.