Dec. 18—MANCHESTER ALDEMEN have yet to vote on a request from the city's police chief to offer detectives and their supervisors a $25 a week "on-call" stipend for investigators frequently called back to work on major crimes and incidents, after tabling the proposal last month.

In tabling the proposal, aldermen asked for more information. Ward 10's Bill Barry questioned whether other unions would seek similar compensation if this "availability pay" was approved.

Police Chief Allen Aldenberg said he views the stipend as "something small" the city can do to help retain employees. The Manchester Police Department has lost 46 officers since 2019, including 17 to the private sector.

"I don't want to be faulted for bringing something up on behalf of my employees because some other department may, quite frankly, have their feelings hurt because I moved quicker than them," Aldenberg said.

"I just don't want to keep kicking this can down the road. Let's be frank — every department in this city is losing people, and if we have the ability to do something small for them to retain people, we're doing a disservice to our employees if we don't at least try to make this happen for them."

Under Aldenberg's proposal, investigators and their supervisors working in four specialty units — detective, domestic violence, juvenile and traffic — would receive a $25 per week stipend for being available to respond to off-duty emergency incidents.

Manchester Police SWAT team members already receive the stipend, which is separate from overtime pay given to officers for regular duty hours or other shifts beyond the regular 40 hours per week.

City detectives often are called back outside of regular shifts to respond to the same incidents as SWAT team members. Detectives work day and evening shifts. No detectives are scheduled to work overnights, Aldenberg said.

"The rate of callbacks for such investigators has increased as the number of homicides, shootings, suicides and incidents of domestic violence, sexual assault and complicated motor vehicle accidents have increased in the city," Human Resources Director Lisa Drabik wrote in a memo to aldermen supporting the proposal.

Aldenberg requested a start date of Jan. 1, 2023, for the stipend. He said he has funds in his budget to cover the stipend until the end of the current fiscal year in June, but additional funds of approximately $65,000 — or $1,300 per investigator — would need to be appropriated for the remaining three years of the current police contract.

The contract includes 3% cost-of-living raises — plus steps and longevity pay — with 4% increases in 2023 and 2024 and a 3% cost-of-living raise in 2025.

In response to a request from aldermen for more information about the proposal, last week Aldenberg provided additional details about each of the divisions in line to receive the stipend.

The traffic unit has four full-time crash investigators who have technical training in demand by other law enforcement agencies such as state police, Concord and Nashua.

"With the call volume of serious crashes, a relatively young patrol division, and several newly promoted supervisors the traffic unit is frequently called after hours for advice regarding motor vehicle crashes," Aldenberg wrote in a memo.

In 2021, the traffic unit responded to 16 callouts, several of which were fatal crashes. So far in 2022, the traffic unit has responded to 12 callouts after hours.

"Since there are only 4 full time investigators they are required to plan vacations and time off around each other in order to ensure that these serious crashes and often tragic events are handled with the utmost proficiency," Aldenberg wrote.

Simply counting how many official documented "callouts" happen over a time period is not an "accurate way to account for how many times detectives have been available on their off-duty time," Aldenberg wrote about the investigative division.

"Detectives and detective supervisors are constantly contacted in their off-duty hours regarding work related matters by prosecutors, supervisors, other detectives and other members of this agency," Aldenberg said. "The number of these encounters are difficult to track because detectives are not submitting overtime cards to be compensated for them, even though the argument could be made that in some of these circumstances, the detective would be entitled to submit a 3-hour call back in accordance with their collective bargaining agreement."

Using the investigative division commander as an example, Aldenberg wrote, records show that between September 2021 and August 2022, he was called on his cellphone at home between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. about 40 times. The calls came from the Officer in Charge to notify and consult with him about next steps in an investigation.

"While not all of these calls resulted in detectives being called back in, the overwhelming majority likely did," Aldenberg wrote, adding the numbers don't account for text messages the commander receives notifying him of major incidents.

Between November 2021 and Oct. 31, 2022, Investigative Division personnel submitted 320 overtime requests for 182 separate days.

Aldenberg also provided information about other law enforcement agencies' policies on investigative personnel receiving availability pay, saying it is common practice.

According to Aldenberg, New Hampshire State Police receive a 2% increase, Massachusetts State Police get $50 per week, Nashua police receive a 2% increase, and Lynn, Massachusetts, police receive a $2,000 yearly stipend.

Aldenberg estimates the financial impact of offering a weekly stipend of $25 per week for all Investigative Division and Traffic Unit personnel for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2023 will be approximately $44,650, and approximately $61,100 for next fiscal year.

At the last meeting of the Committee on Human Resources and Insurance, aldermen adjourned the meeting without removing the proposal from the table. The committee isn't scheduled to meet again before the end of 2022.

Paul Feely is the City Hall reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. Reach him at pfeely@unionleader.com.