Town of Macedon having a hard time recruiting new police

It's been a frustrating six months for Macedon Police Sergeant John Colella. Last October the agency's longtime chief retired then came another blow. “Two younger individuals with our agency left they felt the opportunity in Newark afforded them more pay and a better opportunity” said Sgt. Colella. A department that normally has six officers was now down three full time officers and two part timers with Sgt Colella pulling double duty as the department's supervisor and patrolling the streets. “The challenge has been keeping up with the pace of calls for service providing the town residents the coverage they expect and trying to implement this plan in attracting officers from a very small pool of resources,” said Sgt. Colella.

Town Supervisor William Hammond blames the Town’s current pay rate for not attracting and keeping officers. “Unfortunately, where our beginning pay was and where our top pay was there was some distance between those two and when officers can go to a neighboring community for five to ten thousand dollars more. They certainly have to look at they have families to take care of and we understand that,” said Hammond. Currently Macedon officers start at about 40-thousand a year. Some veteran officers make just over 50 thousand a year. Hammond says getting officers to that top pay quicker could be the key to attracting and keeping officers. “I think we're trying to address that by what we call "top pay" trying to get our officers up to what a veteran officer makes quicker than we have in the past,” said Hammond. In the meantime, Sgt. Colella says they'll continue to do the best with the resources they have. “It's been a very frustrating six months it put a big burden on the other officers but everybody stepped up to the plate rose to the challenge,” said Colella.