Pleasanton police responded to a report of a possible shooting Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at Stoneridge Mall and arrived to find two vehicles struck by gunfire with casings nearby, but no one reporting any injuries. (Courtesy Pleasanton Police Department)
PLEASANTON — Labor talks have stalled between the Pleasanton Police Officers Association and the city, as officers seek higher compensation and additional incentives to attract and retain employees amid a staffing shortage they say has led to fewer officers available to enforce traffic and drug laws.
The impasse has entered its third month, and it’s unclear when the dispute could be resolved. A mediation session last month failed to bring the two sides to a new agreement. Brian Jewell, president of the POA, said the association is now requesting a fact-finding panel through the California Public Employment Relations Board, a legal step in negotiations meant to bring independent scrutiny to the opposing positions. That panel, he said, could begin its work by the end of September.
“Morale is very low,” said Jewell, who is also a Pleasanton police officer. “Agencies all over California and the nation are struggling; the law enforcement profession as a whole is struggling. However, within the city of Pleasanton, it’s very tough.”
Jewell said department wages lag those offered by neighboring agencies. By one metric, the POA notes the base hourly pay for a Pleasanton police officer tops out at $61.19. The average base hourly pay of agencies in the region — including Livermore, Walnut Creek, Concord and Hayward, among others — is $66.70, according to the association.
That gap, Jewell argues, is hindering the Police Department’s ability to fill vacancies with high-quality candidates and retain experienced employees. Staffing shortages because of unfilled positions and officers on medical or personal leave, he said, means the department’s enforcement of traffic violations and the distribution of illicit narcotics is weakened. Specialized units that would bolster such enforcement, Jewell said, have been “disbanded.”
“What’s at risk is the fact that more officers are going to leave, and our staffing is going to get worse and worse and worse,” Jewell said. “And that’s going to impact our ability to effectively serve this community.”
The city disputes any units are being cut, saying the Police Department “has reallocated personnel to meet the department’s and our community’s most critical needs,” according to a city website detailing its position in negotiations. “The levels of service provided by the Police Department and response times have remained the same.”
The city presented an offer in May that included a 15% pay raise for police officers over a proposed three-year contract, and an 18% raise for sergeants. The offer also included a pay bump for certain departmental assignments — such as SWAT and crime scene investigators — and an increase in the city’s contribution to an employee’s retiree health savings account.
The city called the compensation package “generous” and “one of the largest pay increases for police officers and sergeants in the city’s history.” The city says its offer also comes as it anticipates general fund spending to outpace revenues — largely due to pension obligations — largely due to pension obligations, adding that tapping into one-time resources such as reserves to cover employee compensation will not be sustainable in the long run.
City budget documents note that the city will need to consider new ways to generate revenue and/or reduce operating costs and allocations to the city’s capital improvement program and repair and placement fund during anticipated deficit years.
A city spokesperson did not provide comment.
The city’s offer, however, is apparently not good enough.
Sgt. Chris Lewellyn, vice president of the POA, said the association is seeking to bring compensation in Pleasanton up to market rates. A sticking point in negotiations has been what the association is calling “career incentive pay,” which would offer tiered pay increases for officers with eight, 12 and 15 years of experience, maxing out at 5%. The city rejected the association’s proposal.
“We’re trying to catch up in order to recruit and retain our officers,” Lewellyn said. “We also want to restore services back to our community because we have disbanded specialized units that are not up and running. The community members are feeling that.”
The labor dispute between police officers and the city also comes as residents rated safety as their biggest concern. Crime ranked as the most serious issue facing Pleasanton residents in a city survey conducted this year by the firm FM3 Research. Housing ranked second.
“No. 1 on that list is concerning to us,” the sergeant said, “because we are at our maximum what we can do with the officers that we have.”
Originally published at Andre Byik