City trying new strategy to streamline hiring police officers, address Pueblo PD vacancies

Pueblo will try a new approach to address its vacancies in the Pueblo Police Department.

The city will temporarily suspend its requirement to freeze eligibility lists for vacant positions. The lists are linked to the civil service process that some former and current city leaders have said should be expedited so the city can hire police officers more quickly.

Mayor Heather Graham put forth the ordinance that briefly suspends the requirement and Pueblo City Council unanimously approved it on Monday. The ordinance will take effect in the coming days.

The decision is expected to affect lateral hires and Colorado Peace Officers Standards and Training-certified officers more than new ones, Graham said. Often, the city must turn away experienced officers who are too far down on the list of applicants. The city can only hire 10 people for one job posting on every list, Graham said.

For example, if a lateral transfer is No. 12 on a list to become an officer with Pueblo PD, they must wait until the next hiring window to be considered for employment. Because it can take months between those hiring cycles, those officers typically wait lengthy periods.

By the time the next cycle is near, seasoned officers interested in joining Pueblo PD might have already found a job elsewhere. With the temporary switch, Graham estimates the city could cut by at least half the department’s hiring timelines.

The city has seen a large number of experienced officers express interest in transferring from another department to work with Pueblo PD, only to be told that they have to wait until the next window, Graham said.

She said she feels this change will “help expedite the process” for people to apply.

“There’s tools for the recruiter to present to people in trying to get them to come here,” Graham said. “Now, if you’re a lateral transfer, you can start with us much sooner than previously. So it’s just (about) trying to give the police department all the tools that they need to rebuild their staffing issues.”

The temporary suspension of the civil service process is expected to last until Pueblo PD reaches 90% of its authorized strength, which is 231 officers. The department was short 52 officers at the end of February and would need to be at or near 210 officers to satisfy that threshold.

The decision is the latest attempt by the city to remedy Pueblo PD’s ongoing staffing shortages. Last year, the city approved one-time bonuses, the introduction of a quartermaster system and changes to the department’s patrol officer salary schedule to help with recruitment and retention.

In the background paper for the proposed ordinance, the city stated it “has not seen the desired effect on the recruitment and retention of patrol officers” from those initiatives. But Graham was bullish on their impact, saying the bonuses helped and that the adjusted salaries make Pueblo more attractive to potential hires.

“We had a ton of (officers) that were thinking about leaving and I think the city really needed to show its appreciation for the department,” Graham said.

Part of why the civil service process is lengthy is because the commission wants to ensure it properly vets eligible candidates and makes quality hires. Graham said she feels the change won’t affect those standards, despite the adjustment in the application process. The psychological evaluation, background checks and polygraph, among other hiring protocols, will remain.

“We’re not changing or lowering the standard,” Graham said.

The city first floated the idea of tweaking the civil service process in 2022, when applications during recruitment periods were dwindling. City leaders periodically brought up the possibility of making the move in the months thereafter.

The suspension is also expected to allow the city to better hire non-obligated candidates, meaning people who aren’t tied to a specific agency and are paying their own way through an academy.

Other efforts are underway to assist with the staffing woes: city council last month approved an $800,000 grant that will be used to train and recruit police officers and the department's Real Time Crime Center could be ready this spring. Graham mentioned another asset, ShotSpotter, which Pueblo PD says helped its officers investigate an alleged drive-by shooting earlier this week.

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Chieftain reporter Josué Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @josuepwrites. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo suspending civil service process to hire police officers quicker