Greenwood Police received approval from the city council Monday to offer some officers paid time off pay instead of leave.
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Greenwood’s police chief received approval from the city council to allow patrol officers to be bought out of their leave time amid a staffing shortage.
The Greenwood City Council unanimously voted 9-0 Monday to amend the city’s paid time off, or PTO, policy to allow patrol officers to receive PTO pay in lieu of PTO leave for 2023. The change is needed because the department is experiencing a staffing shortage in its patrol division, making it difficult for patrol officers to use PTO leave time due to shift coverage demands, Police Chief Jim Ison told the city council earlier this month.
At the beginning of the month, GPD was only four positions short, and has hired 18 new officers this year. However, the new officers are still in training, he said.
The agency is also in the midst of their second hiring process of the year, although they are still struggling to have the same number of applicants they used to. The department is doing the best they can to try to get more recruits, Ison said.
Regarding the PTO policy change, Greenwood police has 10 officers per shift, with the requirement being a minimum of seven on duty at all times so that three officers a shift can have a day off, outside of regular days off. This includes sick days, PTO and training, which makes it hard for them to take the time off they want, Ison said.
The issue is exacerbated for more veteran officers who have accumulated more PTO, he said.
“They have a choice to make — either they lose their time or they call in and leave us short,” Ison previously said.
After a departmental discussion, Ison said he thought it was appropriate to use the funds leftover from the unfilled positions to give officers the opportunity to be bought out on their PTO. Officers are allowed to carry 80 hours of PTO over, so officials would allow them to sell up to 40 hours back, he said.
There are only eight officers interested in doing this, with the cost estimated to be around $8,000, Ison said.
