Aurora City Leaders Asking For $10,000 In Retention Bonuses For Aurora Police Officers
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4)- The city of Aurora is trying to put an end to the latest problem for its troubled police department, its losing officers at a rapid pace. Several members of Aurora City Council and Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman are hoping retention bonuses will be an answer.
Officers who stick with the Aurora Police Department through 2022 are on track to get $10,000 in bonuses. The city says it lost more than 100 cops this year, about 15% of the force.
Mayor Coffman says the bonuses are needed for two reasons, officers in Aurora need to know they're supported by city leaders, and to ensure community safety.
"It started with a concern," Coffman said.
In a letter to the city signed by several members of the city council and Coffman, they say the challenges associated with keeping police in Aurora, at a time when crime is at a historic rate, are putting public safety at risk.
"I think the number one function of any local government, if not state and federally government, too, is the protection of its people," he said.
The letter requests a one-time use of pandemic relief money to create a retention fund for police.
In addition to a $2,000 bonus already planned for all city employees in 2021, they want Aurora officers to get $4,000 in the spring and $4,000 more next fall, totaling $10,000 in bonuses.
"What we want to do is stabilize our numbers. We really want to get to a fully-staffed police department where the patrol is fully staffed and all the specialized units are fully staffed," he said.
It comes as the department is tasked with reforming its policies and procedures, the result of several high-profile use-of-force cases, that prompted massive protests and calls to defund the police.
Coffman says that's a philosophy he disagrees with.
"We are with our new city council and we are headed in a different course and that course is we will have a fully-resourced department in order to combat this rise in crime," Coffman said.
The mayor says they estimate the city will get about $65 million as part of President Joseph Biden's American Rescue Plan Act and would need roughly $6.5 million for the more than 600 police officers they do have.
Coffman says they will have a formal vote at their council meeting on Monday, Dec. 20.
