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Logansport committees ask council to consider lateral transfer policy to speed police staffing
Summary
Committee members reviewed a proposal to recruit experienced, already-certified officers via a lateral-hire resolution that would shorten field training and honor limited prior service toward pay and leave. Staff will draft an ordinance for the full council to consider.
Logansport City committee members reviewed a proposed lateral-hire policy intended to make the city more competitive when recruiting already-certified police officers and, to a lesser extent, fire personnel.
Corporal Haney (Corporal, Logansport Police Department) and other public safety staff described a program that would allow certified officers who relocate to Logansport to receive credit toward pay and leave and to complete a shortened field-training program so they can reach full, independent patrol duties sooner than under the standard academy-plus-FTO timeline. Staff said many neighboring Indiana departments honor up to 10 years of prior service when placing lateral hires on the pay/vacation matrix and recommended limiting credit to a 2-to-10-year window of prior service for eligibility.
Staff told the committee that the state's hiring picture is active and that lateral hiring is a common tool to compete for officers who already completed academy requirements. The proposal as discussed would: honor up to 10 years of prior service for placement on the department pay/vacation schedule (no more than the equivalent of the city's 6-to-10 bracket), require a minimum of two years of certified service at the prior agency before an applicant is eligible, and require department-specific field training and court-system familiarization.
Committee members raised concerns about how the city's existing vacation-accrual table interacts with incoming credit. Several commenters said the vacation table can produce substantial initial leave balances under current rules; staff noted that vacation accrual policy is a separate ordinance and that the lateral policy would be focused on recruitment and placement. The committee asked staff to make any necessary distinctions explicit in the drafted ordinance.
Outcome: Committee asked staff to draft a revised resolution/ordinance and forward it to the full council for the next meeting for formal consideration. No final ordinance was adopted at the committee meeting.
