Pueblo police officers keep leaving the department. What might convince them to stay?

Higher pay is the top incentive that would keep Pueblo's police officers from leaving the department, according to results of a recent survey initiated by the International Brotherhood of Police Officers Local 537.

Of the 65 responses — most of which came from patrol officers — to a survey asking respondents what would keep them from departing the Pueblo Police Department, 44 said higher pay; 21, or around 32% said better leadership; and 28% signaled more support from command staff.

There were 17 respondents who selected more than three choices, but those entries were not counted because they would have skewed the results, said Jimmie Quintana, president of the IBPO Local 537 union.

The survey was sent March 3 via email to 193 union members and command staff to determine why officers keep leaving Pueblo PD, Quintana said. Some members, he said, have expressed frustrations with a reduction in personnel and recruiting combined with an increase in calls for service, among a lengthy list of other responsibilities.

In 2022, Pueblo PD received 140,120 calls for service, an increase from 135,369 in 2021, according to a report from the department. Quintana said he suspects the department's staffing total is around 190 at this time, which would be below the 203 mark it had late last year and well below its authorized total of 231. Pueblo PD spokesperson Frank Ortega could not be reached by the Chieftain to confirm that number.

Quintana said he started to notice that more officers have been leaving Pueblo PD and after speaking with a departing officer, who he said is leaving to make at least six figures at another department, it strengthened his sense that pay at Pueblo PD is too low.

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“It’s now become, essentially, a bidding war,” Quintana told the Chieftain of recruitment. “If you want people, they’re going to follow the money.”

Pueblo PD last year was approved for a pay increase that brought the department’s entry-level salary to $58,137. It had previously been $47,422 before a separate 7% pay raise brought that to $52,137.

Despite the increases, that entry-level pay remains below the starting wage at some Front Range cities where it's at least $65,000. In Westminster, a city with a comparable population to Pueblo, the salary for a new police recruit is $70,865 and can range between $77,000 and more than $100,000 for lateral moves, depending on experience.

The maximum salary a Pueblo patrol officer can make is $85,505, but it could take them 14 to 21 years to reach that number, Quintana said. At other comparable departments, that timeline ranges from three to six years, he said.

“It’s an uphill battle,” Quintana said of the department’s retention efforts.

Renegotiations of the collective bargaining agreement between the Pueblo PD union and city won’t start until June 2024, leaving at least a year and a half until significant changes to pay structure could be made. But Pueblo city councilors on Monday discussed amending that contract with a 10% pay increase for all patrol officers and sergeants.

They also discussed potentially introducing a quartermaster system, which would remove the need for Pueblo PD officers to purchase their own uniforms, duty belts, handcuffs and flashlights, among other items. The city provides some of their equipment, such as a firearm, holster and radio.

Officers who are union members receive an annual $450 uniform allowance to purchase items they need for duty, but they don’t receive the full amount because it’s taxed, Quintana said. And in some cases, it isn’t a one-time payment — officers might have to purchase those items again in a few years if they need to be replaced or there’s too much wear and tear on them, he said.

“After a while, we start losing money to work for the city of Pueblo as a police officer,” Quintana said.

Some of the respondents also reported poor morale and administration issues as the top reasons they'd leave Pueblo PD, but Quintana said that could be tied to a “combination of everything,” such as the lower pay, administrative duties and other responsibilities that fall on officers who have “busy schedules.”

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Quintana didn’t see a lack of leadership as a reason for those responses, but said it’s not uncommon for some people to have a problem with a superior and their actions. He said it’s his hope that some captains and other superiors see the results from the survey and self-reflect to see if there is “anything they need to fix.”

Quintana said that if survey respondents had expressed better leadership as the top thing that would make them stay instead of higher pay, he would have made that the focus in his presentation to city council.

City and Pueblo PD officials have been vocal about the department's recruiting and retention woes for months, with some claiming that people are less inclined to apply to become police officers following the 2020 George Floyd protests that led Colorado to pass the Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity bill.

Some of them, including councilmember Lori Winner, feel the civil service process that's required to become a police officer in Pueblo takes too long.

Chieftain reporter Josue Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @josuepwrites.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Police officers say higher pay, better leadership would keep them in Pueblo