Knox officials will be reviewing the pay and benefit packages for the Knox City Police Department in order to retain and attract police officers.
Mayor Dennis Estok told the Knox City Council and Knox Board of Works members this week that a deeper dive into the Police Department budget and the city budget needs to happen to see what the city can do for its law enforcement officers. He commented that another officer nearly left the department recently as another department had better pay and benefits, but fortunately the officer decided to stay with the city.
Mayor Estok said pay and benefits, specifically vacation time, will be reviewed as budget season approaches in order to be more competitive. A policy to allow officers to take home patrol cars will also be considered, as long as the officer lives in the county.
He noted that an officer hourly shift change is anticipated and there could be more community involvement initiated.
Mayor Estok commented that it has been a long time since the Knox City Police Department force has been at full capacity and he hopes these changes can help.
He added that the pay and benefits issue is experienced nationwide, but city officials will be closely looking at what can be done locally to retain the current officers and obtain additional officers to fill up the roster.
