Jonesboro, AR – Jonesboro Right Now – The Jonesboro City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an incentive package plan aimed at recruiting additional qualified police officers to the ranks of the Jonesboro Police Department (JPD).

The incentive offers various bonuses for officers of different experience levels. The department is offering a $12,000 bonus, paid out over three years, to certified officers with two or more years of experience. Certified officers with less than two years of experience are being offered a $6,000 bonus, while noncertified candidates are offered $5,000.

“The priority right now is to fill positions. Obviously, of those positions, that would be our street personnel,” Jonesboro Mayor Harold Copenhaver said during the meeting. “The good thing is, the sergeants, lieutenants, those positions are relatively full.”

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For officers currently in the department, JPD is offering a recruiting bonus that a JPD officer will receive if they recommend an applicant who is eventually hired and as the recruit hits certain training milestones.

Funding for these incentives is coming from the police personnel budget that would be paying the salaries of the officers the department currently lacks.

The department is currently facing a 24-officer shortage; however, Elliott said during Tuesday’s meeting that since news initially broke about the shortage, the department has seen an influx of qualified candidates applying. Elliott said because of this, provided the candidates pass background checks, he expects the officer deficit to be filled by November or December.

“What we see in Jonesboro in recruiting and retention is the same problem every chief and sheriff in the United States is currently having. Nothing new, but we’re all trying to look for the magic number of fixing that,” Elliott said. “We have taken those first two steps. This is the third step of getting people in the door.”

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Councilmember David McClain asked what was being done to incentivize and reward officers currently in the department.

Both Elliott and Copenhaver said current officers were being compensated for any overtime work, and that they were discussing possible retention incentives to be included in the next city budget cycle. However, what that possible stipend would look like, as well as if such a thing was possible for the next budget, are still unknown, they said. It would have to be addressed as the next budget was presented.

“This is our priority, is to get boots on the ground. Then, we are assessing the request of council to see how we can financially move forward,” Copenhaver told councilmembers. “These are the things that we can then address to you at that time through the budget process, get you engaged, so you can see where the numbers are, where we’re leading to, and everything else.”

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