They’re battling an opioid epidemic, rising crime, slashed budgets and thinned ranks.<\/p>\n
Now, they’re fighting the state’s retirement system, too.<\/p>\n
Across the state, troopers, police and firefighters say Alaska’s retirement system is crippling their ability to recruit and retain new employees, leaving gaping holes in their ranks. Now, they’re urging the state to take action and warning of consequences if nothing is done.<\/p>\n
“It’s getting challenging to find and keep qualified applicants,” Juneau Police Chief Ed Mercer said. “That’s something I hear quite often by my staff, and I’m hearing quite often from departments across the state.”<\/p>\n
Mercer’s budget includes 57 police officers, but nine of those positions are vacant: He hasn’t found qualified people to fill them.<\/p>\n
Col. Hans Brinke, head of the Alaska State Troopers, has 389 sworn officers and 52 vacancies. Again, he can’t find people to fill them.<\/p>\n
Rick Groshong is the new police chief in Hoonah. He came to that town from Wrangell, where he was the lead patrol officer for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n
When he became a police officer — he graduated from the state police academy in Sitka with Mercer — Alaska’s pay and benefits for police compared well to places in the Lower 48.<\/p>\n
“At that time, the Alaska wages were pretty good,” Groshong said. “But now, the retirement is not there, and there’s down-south wages that are even more, and the benefits — they’re giving bonuses for hiring, like $5,000, $10,000.”<\/p>\n
Across the United States, a dwindling number of police recruits has given prospective employees the advantage<\/a> in negotiations. Departments frequently poach officers from neighboring cities and states, and Alaska hasn’t kept pace in the recruiting race.<\/p>\n “We will be more than happy to steal your officer from another agency to fill our ranks,” Brinke said.<\/p>\n Brinke has 29 potential troopers in training, but with pay and benefits so much better Outside, he doesn’t know how many of those people will still be around in a few years, which is why retaining officers is even more important than recruiting them.<\/p>\n “If we can’t stop the leaky bucket, it doesn’t matter how much water we put in it,” he said.<\/p>\n The No. 1 thing hampering retention<\/a> is the state’s 401(k)-style retirement system.<\/p>\n In Fairbanks, an analysis concluded<\/a>: “Most senior staff interviewed view the current Tier IV retirement offered to new hires by the SOA’s Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) as a poor incentive to help retain staff.”<\/p>\n “Retention of our people in the Tier IV is minimal because they want to have the security of a defined benefit package,” Brinke said.<\/p>\n “I know that we have lost individuals to King County. We have lost people to Kent, Washington, and I know there are several other states,” Brinke said.<\/p>\n Washington state’s police-officer pension program<\/a> has guaranteed payments and better medical coverage than Alaska’s current program. The payments are higher in Washington, but Alaska’s 401(k)-style approach leaves it more vulnerable to swings in the stock market and less reliable.<\/p>\n Alaska’s current retirement system was created by the Legislature in 2005<\/a> as a response to a multibillion-dollar shortfall in the state’s pension fund. The state’s actuary had miscalculated how much money would be needed, then hid the problem from the state.<\/p>\n