On Monday, the Pittsburg Police Officers Association sounded the alarm that the city must take drastic action to address the retention issue within the police department – this includes enhancing compensation and creating a supportive environment.
The nearly 40-minute presentation came after staff held a public hearing in compliance with AB 2561 (vacancies, recruitment and retention efforts). According to the staff report, for the calendar year 2024, the city’s annual
average percentage of vacancies (i.e., regular, full-time equivalent) is 9.3%.
POA President Jerry Sanchez and officer Johnathon Elmore took the podium and spoke for nearly 40-minutes to the city council regarding vacancies and retention issues. The two aimed to paint the picture of why the agency is hurting in terms of staffing and service levels which is now impacting the community and its businesses.
According to Sanchez, he has reached out to the last 12 laterals who transferred to other agencies since 2021 where the reasons were monetary and other beneficial reasons.
Currently, the police officer’s association is made up of 68 members which includes 10 sergeants, 5 corporals and 53 officers. While the Police Management Group is 8 members, which includes 2 captains and 6 lieutenants. There is also a police chief. In total, the Pittsburg Police Department is made up of 88-sworrn officers.
“We are 88 sworn, but this is the number (68) of us who make up the POA, people need to understand that,” said Sanchez.
There are currently 11 vacancies with 10 new officers graduating the academy, but Sanchez and Elmore explained it will take 4-months of training. They explained they were “way off” in terms of having officers ready to go in their own vehicles on patrol.
Sanchez also shared of the 53 officers responding to calls, 24 of them have less than 3 years of service—this is impacting level of services to the community due to the learning curve in law enforcement that is always changing. Currently, there are 34 officers are serving the community averaging 120-160 calls per day in the city of Pittsburg.
“When we hear from the business community how come this wasn’t handled, that is because we don’t have enough cops out there,” said Sanchez. “The city is growing, San Marco is huge, in order to address these issues, we have got to have cops. The problem is we are losing police officers to other agencies. Every time we lose one, we have to refill it, train them.”
Data was also shared about the number of POA members since 2013 which shows since 2018, Pittsburg has been losing officers. The number of officers include:
- 2013 – 67
- 2014 – 70
- 2015 – 71
- 2016 – 69
- 2017 – 70
- 2018 – 77
- 2019 – 76
- 2020 – 76
- 2021 – 72
- 2022 – 70
- 2023 – 69
- 2024 – 65
- 2025 – 68
Sanchez did point out along with officers leaving, there was attrition from people who were fired, retiring, medical retirement but the issue was laterals leaving.
Elmore shared the timeline for hiring an officer from the application to solo officer:
- Application Process
- Interview/Orals
- Drug Screening
- Background
- Medical
- Polygraph
He said that process could take 3-6 months from application to job officer. After that, there is a training process which is nearly a year—which half don’t make it through the academy. The entire process is approximately 18 months to 2 Years. He also cautioned that Pittsburg is going to have to deal with several retirements of more tenured officers within the next 2-years while rumblings are that several officers who are talking about leaving the agency. The takeaway is the Pittsburg Police Department is losing officers faster than they can replace them.
Sanchez then shared the estimated cost of hiring and training an officer which is approximately $201,334.91 per officer. Which, every time Pittsburg Police hires, trains and equips an officer and they go to another agency, that money walks out the door and that new city reap the benefits of their investment.
Elmore added, “it is not a recruitment issue, it’s a retention issue” noting that 24 officers have left the department for another agency since 2015.
According to the data, there have been 24 laterals who have left since 2024 to agencies that include:
- Alameda County Sheriff
- Antioch Police Department
- Benicia Police Department
- Concord Police Department
- DEA
- El Cerrito Police Department
- Elk Grove Police Department
- Lathrop Police Department
- Martinez Police Department
- Moraga Police Department
- Napa Police Department
- Oakley Police Department
- Placer County Sheriff
- Richmond Police Department
- Santa Clara Police Department
- San Ramon Police Department
- US Forest Service
- Vacaville Police Department
“There are not just anywhere, these are allied agencies, what these offers are lateraling to is they are seeing more value in them overall in monetary and benefits to their family. And I can’t blame them, when they look at what we offer,” stated Elmore.
They also shared that of the 24 officers who left, that accounted for $4.83 million in hiring and training costs out the door.
Salary Concerns:
Elmore then shared why officers were leaving noting Pittsburg Police were the lowest paid and were 22% below the median average wage. The average salary was around $162,000 while Pittsburg officers were paid just $132,000. He reiterated the salary was 22% below the average salary in their survey.
According to data provided by Elmore, he said officers who have been on the force for 5-years, Pittsburg is the lowest paid.
- $14,995 – San Ramon
- $14,435 – Concord
- $14,184 – BART
- $13,947 – El Cerrito
- $13,588 – Brentwood
- $13,573 – Average
- $13,333 – Pleasant Hill
- $13,311 – Antioch
- $12,844 – Oakley
- $12,693 – Contra Costa County
- $12,398 – Walnut Creek
- $11,001 – Pittsburg
Elmore pointed out that Pittsburg has lost 6 officers to the Oakley Police Department alone noting they come to Pittsburg, get trained and lateral out. Immediately upon going to Oakley, they receive a $2k a month raise. They are making significantly more money and are doing much less work.
Elmore then moved to officers with 15-years of experience and said the median pay is $180k per year, Pittsburg officers is at $157k – a topped out officer with everything. Pittsburg is 15% less than the median average.
- $16,814 – San Ramon
- $16,044 – Concord
- $15,912 – BART
- $15,514 – Pleasant Hill
- $15,300 – El Cerrito
- $14,956 – Average
- $14,856 – Brentwood
- $14,372 – Antioch
- $13,794 – Contra Costa County
- $13,609 – Oakley
- $13,350 – Walnut Creek
- $13,139 – Pittsburg
Elmore said he was a 12 year Pittsburg Police officer and wanted to stay within Pittsburg Police.
“What makes me sad that in my 12 years in being here, almost everyone that I got hired with or worked around is gone. I am one of like 2 people who was hired and worked around me. It’s a different police department,” explained Elmore. “That is not a negative thing, but we are working in a police department with a very low amount of tenure and low amount of experience and it would seem a very low amount of loyalty. But many are here that remained loyal and dedicated to the people of Pittsburg.”
Elmore urged the county and city to put public safety as a priority while backing the police department.
Sanchez said he was a lateral officer from Oakland and called what is going on in the City of Oakland nothing short of “chaos”. He thanked the city of embracing him, he father was an officer in Pittsburg for 13 years.
“I knew what it once was, it wasn’t what it is now. It used to be a very dangerous city in 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s. The people that have made this police and created the infrastructure potential that you now have is on the backs of the officers because it’s the backbone of any city to prosper and better serve its people,” explained Sanchez. “Without it, no one is going to want to invest in a city riddled with crime.”
The Pittsburg Police Officers Association closed by requesting the city take drastic action to address the retention crisis with investing in officers by enhancing compensation and creating a supportive environment that encourages officers to stay and serve the community.
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