Sharon hires 3 more officers

If a federal grant comes through, the city will have six new officers.

STAFF REPORT

SHARON, Pa. — The city is moving ahead with hiring three more police officers, police Chief Michael Menster said.

Menster said he spoke Monday with Mayor Bob Lucas and received authorization to proceed.

Council passed an ordinance last week that resolved a contract issue affecting police pension benefits. That cleared the way for the hirings, which will bring the department back up to its full complement of 28 officers, Menster said.

Menster said he will interview from a current eligibility list of five people who took a civil service test in December 2007.

Menster said after interviews, background checks and physical, psychological and medical examinations, he will present the top three candidates to the mayor, who will make the decision.

After the three are hired, they will ride with an officer who does field training for three months.

Menster estimated the officers would be ready to be on their own by September.

The department should also know by September whether it will receive a $600,000 grant for three more police officers for three years from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing program.

The program, which puts more of a police presence in communities plagued by crime, was activated during President Bill Clinton’s administration. Funding dried up during the Bush administration, Menster said. The program is being revived now with federal stimulus money, he said.

The starting salary for the new hires will be $30,311, Menster said. With benefits, each officer will cost $47,000, he said. Another $4,000 a piece will cover the costs of equipment for each one, he said.