Gastonia leaders extend $15,000 lateral hiring bonus to include South Carolina officers

Gastonia leaders recently approved the expansion of a lateral hiring bonus that was originally established in April to bring experienced North Carolina police officers to the city.

The program will now extend a $15,000 hiring bonus to experienced South Carolina officers that join the department, which City Council hopes will help fill more vacancies, according to Councilwoman Jennifer Stepp.

The incentive was established in an effort to fill 30 vacant positions at the Gastonia Police Department.

Since April, the department has filled four positions with lateral hires and has an additional six currently being processed, according to police spokesman Bill McGinty.

Stepp said the move to broaden the incentive makes sense for Gastonia since the city is so close to the state line.

“Since we’re a border state, this sort of makes sense to us. We talked about it when we did it originally for North Carolina but decided to hold off and see how we did in North Carolina, and of course, it has brought some experienced officers which was the intent,” she said. “We feel that it will help us to get more qualified candidates to fill these slots, so to speak.”

The bonus program also includes a recruiting incentive for current Gastonia police officers who could receive anywhere from $1,000-$6,000 for recruiting a North Carolina officer to the department.

Stepp said the existing recruiting incentive will also apply when a Gastonia police officer recruits a South Carolina officer to join the team.

Gastonia Police Chief Trent Conard said at an April press conference that it was the largest lateral transfer incentive in the state as far as the department was aware.

Officers with enough experience to qualify for the bonus will receive $7,500 upon hire and the remaining $7,500 after one year of service.

Stepp said the effort will benefit the community by giving the city’s officers a break.

“We will, of course, relieve some of our officers that are having to work overtime,” she said. “Having a fresh, rested, and fully staffed police force is a plus for our community as far as safety and crime goes. We do feel like it will increase that pool of experienced lateral hires that we can pull from.”

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Gastonia leaders extend $15,000 lateral hiring bonus to include South Carolina officers