The union representing most Juneau Police Department staff has declared an impasse in its negotiations for a new contract with the City and Borough of Juneau.
Juneau Police Sgt. Sterling Salisbury is the chapter president for the Public Safety Employees Association. He said low pay and staffing shortages are stretching the department beyond its limits — and it’s putting the public at risk.
“They need to make it a place where people want to come to Juneau and to recruit and retain officers and dispatchers and under their current proposals to us, it’s not even coming close,” he said.
The union and city have been negotiating a new contract since February. The previous contract expired in June. The union declared an impasse earlier this month.
Salisbury said Juneau’s wages aren’t competitive with other departments and agencies in the state. He said that, paired with severe understaffing, is driving people away from the department.
Right now, the department has 11 vacant positions, which is fewer than last year.
But Salisbury said it’s not enough, since many officers are still in training. He said the lack of officers has led to delayed response times, strained investigations and mandatory overtime. He said better pay and benefits are needed to attract and retain staff.
The department came under public scrutiny recently after a video posted online showed a Juneau police officer slamming a man to the ground during an arrest in July. In the days following the incident, the department placed the officer on paid administrative leave and requested an independent investigation into the incident.
Juneau Police Chief Derek Bos agreed with Salisbury that understaffing is a challenge, but said that the department is making strides to address it. He said JPD currently has eight officers in training.
“We are definitely doing a robust effort with recruiting and hiring, and that is making a difference,” he said. “We are making headway — beyond just breaking even between attrition — we’re now in a forward number. So I think that is helping.”
Juneau’s firefighters union is also in the midst of wage negotiations with the city. Union representatives said that low staffing rates could also impact Capital City Fire Rescue’s response times.
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