The San Diego Police Department is enticing former officers to rejoin the department, according to a letter sent by its recruiting division.
The offer was discovered in April after the letter outlining incentives to return, reportedly sent to former officers, was posted on social media.
According to the letter, the department is offering a 5 percent pay increase each year for fiscal years 2023 and 2024 and a 10 percent annual pay increase for those who teach and evaluate officers in training.
The letter also states that the department ended its COVID-19 vaccine mandate in March.
Jared Wilson, president of the San Diego Police Officer’s Association, told The Epoch Times that it’s “hard to say” if the pay increase enticement will work.
“In many cases they will still be making more money at the place they left to,” Wilson wrote in an email. “The department has a history of undercompensating officers. The 10 [percent] raise over two years was helpful to gain ground on other agencies, but there is still work to be done.”
Wilson said officers left the department due to low pay, the vaccine mandate, early retirement, being overworked, and “frustration with a revolving door criminal justice system.”
A 2021 survey by the association revealed more than 400 officers were considering quitting if the city enforced a vaccine mandate.
According to the department, it lost 241 officers in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended last July—a 51 percent increase over 2021. Since then, another 138 officers have left. There are now about 2,000 currently on payroll, according to city data.
