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S. Paula police's new raises are largest in decade
6 to 8 percent increases are the biggest in about a decade
Jason Redmond / Star staff Left, Santa Paula Police Officer Randy Haumann talks with a man he stopped for driving with a suspended license and expired registration in Santa Paula on Monday. At right, Officer Haumann searches the man as Senior Officer Cody Madison looks on.
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Santa Paula police, long the lowest paid in Ventura County, have won their biggest raises in close to 10 years.
In an agreement approved Monday by the City Council and ratified late last month by the officers, almost three dozen police won raises of 6 to 8 percent.
The raises are retroactive to Jan. 1.
The pact pumps up the beginning base salary by almost $3,000 to $46,426; base pay for a sergeant at the top of the scale would increase by more than $5,000 to $70,200.
"I know the raise will make officers happy," Police Chief Steve MacKinnon said last week. "A little bit more money in their pockets should help them."
Sgt. Joey de los Reyes, a member of the police union's negotiating team, says the raise is the biggest he can recollect in the past 10 to 15 years. Although the agency still has a serious attrition rate, the agreement shows the commitment that the council has to public safety, he said.
Officers with experience
"When you retain officers with years and years of experience, it speaks volumes when it comes to protecting the community," he said. "They know the crooks, they know the community."
A survey on salaries, taken before the raises were approved, shows the agency pays tens of thousands of dollars less than other cities and the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. The gap will narrow but not close with the raise package.
The Sheriff's Department pays a median salary of $67,600 to deputies in neighboring Fillmore. The median for a Santa Paula police officer, which is a similar rank, reached $48,500 before the raise.
Difficulty finding funding
City officials considered merging the agency with the Sheriff's Department in 2004, then tried to pass a tax to bolster the force after residents said they wanted to keep their hometown department.
When the tax failed resoundingly, the council shifted funds to add personnel. But the working-class city still lacks the money to pay competitive wages, City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz said.
MacKinnon said he can hire new officers, but it is often tough to keep them. Santa Paula requires beginners to sign agreements saying they will stay for three years and puts them on the payroll before they go through the sheriff's training academy.
Officer Randy Haumann, 35, joined the department in June and graduated from the academy in November. Pay is important, he said, but the small-town department offers a breadth of experience not easily found in a large city.
He can handle investigations from start to finish instead of handing them off to another division, Haumann said.
"You're taught how to do it," he said. "You do it all on your own."
MacKinnon said the agency has 32 positions filled on the 34-member force; two left recently for other jobs. But Santa Paula could use 10 to 13 more officers, he said.
"I have a real concern about burnout," he said. "Officer fatigue is definitely a concern of mine. Stress management is definitely a concern."
The new package increases pay for police sergeants by 8 percent, senior officers and detectives by 7 percent and police officers by 6 percent. Dispatchers received a 3 percent boost.
The package will cost about $195,000, not including supplementary pay of $50,000, which the union will decide how to distribute among officers and dispatchers.
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Posted by Blizzy on April 22, 2008 at 5:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Finally, a picture of an SPPD cop other than Smith!
Posted by Blizzy on April 22, 2008 at 5:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I didn't know SPPD hired Ricky Schroeder! Go back to NYPD Blue!
Posted by CommandoAngel on April 22, 2008 at 6:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey, Smith is HOT. They can put his photo in here any time - and Rex is a bonus!
Posted by AnnaWhaat on April 22, 2008 at 7:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Well I think its a good thing. They were way under paid compared to other cities in the County. I hope this raise is able to keep Officers on the job. I am all for the raise!
Posted by vcsexplorer11 on April 22, 2008 at 7:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
One thing about police officers is they usually get a huge amount of overtime, making their small salaries turn into big salaries (with all that time and a half). Santa Paula does appear to be down in salary compared to many other local police departments.
Posted by Brownpride on April 22, 2008 at 8:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Santa Paula needs the military to step in.
Posted by mmshoot on April 22, 2008 at 9:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The cost of living in Santa Paula went up about $6.50 per year per person reported in the 2000 census population figure. Is that too much to live in a town with experienced, seasoned, well instructed, and dedicated policemen and women to patrol the streets while earning a wage that is at least comparable to neighboring towns? I do not understand why they did not get those wage adjustments many years ago.
Posted by Robert_Worthley on April 22, 2008 at 9:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I was privileged to have been on a SPPD night shift ridealong. The hours went by quickly as I saw courage, people skills, teamwork, leadership and departmental pride.
I watched two officers apprehend taggers who were caught in the act of vandalizing a wall near the high school following a long foot pursuit. I was especially impressed by my host's knowledge of the city and his ability to interact with folks ranging from ex cons, to gang members to little children. I've seen the results of some especially good detective work out of SPPD.
Santa Paula is fortunate to have Chief MacKinnon at the helm and to be served by a great group of officers. The challenges and risks faced by SPPD officers are equal to those of any agency in the county. For them to not be paid on a par with officers of other agencies is to me incomprehensible.
Posted by BeaHappi on April 22, 2008 at 10:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Good for the SPPD - there is no amount of money that I would take to do their job. As far as I'm concerned with law enforcement, the more we can pay them the better.
They earn every penny of it and more.
Posted by zulumaster on April 22, 2008 at 11:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.............
REMEMBER THAT!
Posted by george1234 on April 22, 2008 at 12:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Zulumaster, you are very correct, you do in fact get what you pay for. I wish someone would have told Fillmore that before they contracted with the Venutra County Sheriff's Department. The citizens of Santa Paula made the right choice by rejecting the sheriff's department. I dont think they would want to pay cops that steal guns then lie about, avoid paying their taxes, and are frequently getting arrested for DUI. Maybe Fillmore will wise up and boot the sheriff!
Posted by twbeem on April 22, 2008 at 12:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thats funny zulumaster because SPPD does so much with so little. I think SP has and still continues to get a bargain with their police force. Usually understaffed and underpaid means a department with low moral but SPPD stepped up. This raise is long overdue.
Posted by jw1000 on April 22, 2008 at 2:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hopefully Santa Paula PD doesn't have officers like some of the bad apples in Oxnard PD.
Posted by Common_Sense on April 22, 2008 at 4:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
There are bad apples no matter what the job. Fortunately a vast majority of the police officers (I know a couple in the nieghborhood and have witnessed a few testify in court while doing my civic duty and a ride along) are very very hard working people doing a job very very few have the courage to do. While people here rant on occasion about the overtime money or salaries some police departments pay their men/women in blue, the toll it must take on them over a long career seems hardly worth it to me. It has to be more than just $$ that makes them do that job, given the hate speech, assaults, etc they put up with day in, day out. I thank them everytime I get the chance.....Given the money paid to so many executives (both private and public sector) who take so little real risk in their lives, these guys/gals deserve much more than they get...SPPD looks like they are still grossly underpaid, hopefully this is just one move in a series of planned raises to get them on par with other depts. This would, no doubt, make them much more competitive when trying to recruit the best of those willing to put on the uniform.
Posted by narc121 on April 22, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
they should have just contracted with the Sheriff's Department. They would be getting paid more, have more opportunity for experience and promotion AND the community would have more access to additional resources.
Posted by Blizzy on April 22, 2008 at 5:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Narc,
How do you figure they would have more opportunity for experience and promotion?
If you think working 6 years in custody before hitting the street is experience, our opinion of the word differs greatly. Furthermore, where else at the Sheriff's Department are you going to get experience like in Santa Paula? The high speed city of Thousand Oaks? Ooooooooo
As for promotions, get a stripe, go back to the Main Jail? Wow, that sure is encouragement to test. If you want to work custody that badly, go apply at CDC.
And what additional resources does VCSO have that SPPD does not? The helicopter? Again "oooooo" it's impossible to get them to fly it anyway. The SWAT team? SPPD has their own. Traffic? SPPD has their own traffic unit.
As for pay, you're right. They would get paid more. But getting paid more for non-PERS retirement and a lifetime of watching prisoners from a tower, or next to the bench..baliff.
Posted by missqwert on April 22, 2008 at 6:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Look at your Chief Steve MacKinnon does not even own a home in your city nor comes out to your guys events; He’ll be retiring in 5yrs. or less…… so he can just up go…talk about our Sheriff’s…? Around 15yrs or 17yrs ago one of you officer dove from Santa Paula to Fillmore and pistol whip his wife, and one of your officer robbed Kmart on Xmas eve like 10yrs ago….? and alot more...??? lets not bring up the past "look" towards the future....! I’m from Santa Paula, Now live in Fillmore for 15yrs. thank you and have a good day.
Posted by ABunker805 on April 22, 2008 at 7:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"missqwert" - Talk about someone who does not have the facts straight. But it's nice to know there are still people out there who think they know everything. You are what's called job security. I am not a Santa Paula Police officer but I do have the facts, unlike you. Chief MacKinnon has been at every department sponsored event so you need to do your homework. It's obvious you not only speak without getting your facts straight, your spelling is horrid! Continue to break the law and SPPD will continue to arrest you. It's amazing how brave some become when they're behind a computer screen. You can change your username as much as you want but everyone, including the officers, know who is posting the ridiculous comments. You act as though you know as much about SPPD as you do about 288PC.
Posted by ABunker805 on April 22, 2008 at 7:50 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by george1234 on April 22, 2008 at 9:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Experience? How is shooting a bunch of unarmed people in Thousand Oaks experience. That's what I call inexperience. When you have a bunch of cops who don't have street experience. They might have 10 years on but 8 of that was spent in the jail as a custody deputy. They get out and think they are hardened veteran cops, when in all reality most of their patrol shift is spent at Starbucks. "Thousand Oaks, safest city in the nation", just don't reach for your wallet if a deputy is around.
Posted by AngryYouth on April 22, 2008 at 9:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Missquert are you kidding? Besides getting a headache from trying to decipher your typing, is the earliest trash you can dig up on santa paula police is 10-17 years ago? All that stuff mentioned by the sheriffs dept happened within the last 2 years. How about, when was the last time santa paula was sued? Within the last year sheriffs dept got sued for breaking a prisoner's leg in the jail and cost the county 1.5 million. So for all those people who think there's all these great reasons the sheriffs dept is such a premier department, I have 1.5 million reasons why they are not.
Posted by narc121 on April 23, 2008 at 1:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
george1234 - deputies do not work in the jail for eight years, most are are rotated out within 3-5 years. Now that County has beefed up their recruitment and pay, more people are applying and coming on board. And what incidents specifically are you referring to in which VCSD shot "a bunch" of unarmed people? Ever consider that Thousand Oaks is one of the safest cities because it has a proactive police department? Why should being a safe city be a negative thing? People like you are just hating on the positive things in life.
Blizzy - you have obviously have no idea what your talking about. What kind of experiences can you get like you do in Santa Paula? I can't believe you even said that! How about Fillmore, El Rio (which we all know has had its problems with violence), Moorpark, Silverstrand/Hollywood Beach, and Saticoy? These are all areas with their own problems, gangs, and habitual crooks. You state that SPPD has SWAT, a traffic unit, and what else? You failed to mention the numerous times where VCSD provides mutual aid to SPPD in from of investigative support, K-9, air unit, search & rescue, crime lab, narcotics unit, gang unit and more. And for your information, when you get promoted you do go back into custody, but not for 3-5 years. I've recently seen people promoted to Sr. Deputy and Sgt. that are out of the jail from 1 week to 6 months. As a County employee, you do not participate in the PERS system, but as sworn staff the retirement package is much better than the civilian workers. What good is your PERS retirement if you're getting paid practically nothing? Do I need to remind you PERS goes off your highest paid salary? Would you rather retire as a SPPD Sgt. making 70K a year or as a Sheriff's Commander making 140K a year? Oh, and don't worry, you don't have to work the jail when you promote to a Captain or above!
Posted by AnnaWhaat on April 23, 2008 at 2:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good Grief! What have we started here!!!!!!!!
Posted by george1234 on April 23, 2008 at 3:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Santa Paula has K-9, Gang Unit, and so on. Narc, you forget to mention the several homicide cases and attempted homicide cases that Santa Paula Police solved for the Sheriff's Department. The bottom line is this, everybody has there bad apples and everybody has the great workers. The sheriff's office is not god's gift to the world. And to hit on your point about mutual aid. Santa Paula Police have responded to Fillmore, Saticoy and many other cities for mutual aid too. So what exactly are you trying to say? If the sheriff is so big and bad then why do they call for help from other agencies as well. Santa Paula has great cops who do a great job. So why hate, if they wanted to work at the Shriff's office they would have applied there..or the Dpeartment of Corrections.
Posted by ABunker805 on April 23, 2008 at 6:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's one thing to have pride in your agency Narc, but to make it seem as though the Sheriff's Dept. is the next best thing to sliced bread, I beg to differ. But that's MY opinion. When you post on a blog that the city should have contracted simply because of the vast resources, this is what's called mutual aid and it happens county wide. It's great that officers have pride and believe their agency is the greatest, no one is taking that away from you. But to try to belittle an officer or department simply because they aren't a member of your agency or to infer that a much smaller agency doesn't employ those who are just as capable of carrying out the same duties as you is ignorant. As I said, everyone has their bragging rights but I know for a fact that if you were a fly on the wall of other agencies patrol briefings, you would see that other agencies have experienced the same type of "attitude" from members of the Sheriff's Dept. simply because the patrol car reads Ventura County. So how about everyone just get along and get over it. I'm sure you'd be singing a different tune if you were shot or injured in the line of duty and the only one there to save you is a SP cop. Think about it!
Posted by AnnaWhaat on April 25, 2008 at 6:58 a.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by AnnaWhaat on May 12, 2008 at 7:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
ABunker805 ,are you going to put everyone down?
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