By Magdalene Perez
Staff Writer
The Advocate Posted: 11/12/2008 02:47:08 AM EST
Stamford residents to get 5-point boost on police recruit tests - Topix
STAMFORD - Stamford residents who apply to become police officers soon will have an advantage over nonresidents.
The Board of Representatives voted 30-4 Monday in favor of awarding city residents an additional five points on the written test for police recruits.
City legislators are giving the law a "trial period." It will apply to exams given this year or next year, but expires at the end of 2009.
The proposal was debated for more than a year. Proponents on the board said the bonus reflects policies in other Connecticut cities and mirrors that of the Stamford fire department.
"If other major cities can do it, why not Stamford?" asked city Rep. Robert DeLuca, R-14, who sponsored the legislation with city Rep. John Zelinsky Jr., D-11. "We want to give our taxpaying citizens the benefit."
But Police Chief Brent Larrabee said he and the Police Commission do not support the move. Stamford has struggled to find recruits for the many vacancies on the police force, and the new ordinance will shrink the application pool more, Larrabee said.
"It's 180 percent wrong - dead wrong," Larrabee said. "It's opposite of what everybody else is doing in the industry."
Today, police recruiting is increasingly national, even global, said Larrabee, who called the ordinance "parochial" and a "throwback to the late '50s and '60s era."
Since the mid-1990s, the number of applicants to the Stamford police force shrank from 1,110 to about 250 for the last exam, Larrabee said.
To exacerbate the problem, the city human resources department and the Police Commission have not filled positions.
The police department is authorized for 370 officers but now has about 280, Larrabee said. So far this year, the Police Commission has added five people to law enforcement ranks, Larrabee said.
The city instituted a residency bonus for firefighters in 2002. Fire officials supported the five-point bonus because firefighters who live in Stamford can respond to a crisis more quickly.
Some city legislators who voted against the law said it is a misguided attempt to encourage recruits to move to Stamford. Some have suggested the police department's starting salary, $52,964, makes it difficult for qualified applicants to buy homes in Stamford.
City Rep. Pauline Rauh, D-6, who voted no, said it is more important to address affordable housing.
City Rep. Walter Neary Jr., D-9, cited the same reason for voting against the measure. He also opposed it because it gives preference that is not based on merit, Neary said.
"For something as important as public safety, I don't believe in reducing the qualifications," Neary said.
Larrabee said it is difficult to attract recruits in large part because the city does not have a regularly scheduled exam. Human resources chooses when to hold exams, then keeps a list of qualified applicants until open positions are filled.
The policy puts Stamford at a disadvantage because recruits often apply for jobs in many cities at once during an exam cycle, Larrabee said.
Legal Affairs Director Tom Cassone said the city's method saves money because the exams are expensive to administer.
City human resources officials are working on scheduling an exam, though no date has been set, Cassone said.
- Staff Writer Magdalene Perez can be reached at magdalene.perez@scni.com or 964-2240.