Michigan City Police Chief Steve Forker spoke to the City Council about a need for raises to retain more officers.
MICHIGAN CITY — Low pay has turned the Michigan City Police Department into a training ground for other area police departments, Police Chief Steve Forker said.
Another officer left recently for the Chesterton Police Department, a familiar story.
“We conducted an exit interview with him,” Forker told the City Council. “Some of the things he noted were that it was closer to home for him, the 12-hour shifts that they are on offer more time off, more three-day weekends. And obviously more money.”
“When I looked at the numbers with Chesterton, what he explained to us was that with four years of experience, he will be at $70,881.51,” Forker said. “Currently at the Michigan City Police Department, to reach $70,992 you have to be a 20-year patrolman to reach that number. Let that sink in for a moment.”
“Since 2015, we've had a total of 74 officers leave Michigan City Police Department,” Forker said. Of those, 22 of those were planned retirements, 14 unplanned retirements and 23 left for other departments.
Of the 23 who left for other departments, 22 have left since 2019, Forker said. Two left for other careers.
“I'm just asking that we get on par with our neighboring communities to make this a place where people want to come, they want to stay, they want to grow, they want to develop their career here and stay here and grow with the city as much as we're going to grow exponentially here in the next 5 to 10 years.”
Forker noted the annexation request on the agenda that night is an indication of the future need for additional officers.
“Currently at three years on LaPorte Police Department, they're at $68,000. Three years at the Michigan City Police Department, currently $54,631. That's a $14,000 difference,” Forker said.
The department is 15 officers short, he said. Attracting new officers is difficult.
In January, the department tested 17 applicants who showed up for the written and physical agility tests, Forker said. Eleven passed the tests. Background investigations further whittle the list, and then there’s the physical and psychological exam for the Public Employees Retirement Fund. Conditional offers have been made to four applicants. But that would still leave the department well short of officers, and more retirements are expected this year.
“We are a training ground for other departments. We are investing thousands of dollars into officers, and they are leaving us. And we are starting over,” Forker said.
LaPorte County implemented a new public safety local income tax. Forker urged the council to consider big increases in pay for police officers to make the wages competitive with other area departments.
Fire Chief Doug LeGault made a similar plea.
“You asked about why firefighters were leaving the fire department,” he told the council. “I did some research for the last 15 years. I stated that seven firefighters left to go to other departments for higher pay. I just wanted to remind you of that myself, the administration and the firefighters have all talked, and we believe that some of that money should be used for raising the salary.”
The Fire Commission set an April 30 deadline for job applications. More retirements are coming, creating additional job openings, LeGault said.
“We used to have 30 to 40 people, at least, on the hiring list that passed everything,” LeGault said. This latest time, 39 applied, 23 or 24 took the written test and 11 made it on the list.
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