HENDERSON (KTNV) — Amid recruitment struggles, the Henderson Police Dept. is turning to some familiar faces to help boost numbers.
Through an initiative the city is calling "Rehiring our Heroes," Henderson Police will bring retired officers on board next year to help bolster staffing and reduce overtime for police and corrections officers.
In order to do that, the city council was required by state law to declare a "critical labor shortage" for both of those positions, which they did on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
But Henderson Police Chief Hollie Chadwick said she doesn't want that terminology to alarm people. She said this is just another tool they're adding to their toolkit in a tough hiring climate.
"It's an ability to bring people back a little quicker, because as you all know, it takes almost a year to get officers qualified to go out on the road once they get in the academy and then the field training and to be able to be solo officers. Prior to that, it takes many months just to get hired on because we have very strict background process because it takes a lot to be a police officer and we do want the best of the best," Chief Chadwick said. "The ability to rehire our heroes, are people that have already been here, they understand what we do at Henderson, they understand our policies and procedures."
Chief Chadwick said she is confident in her department's ability to protect and serve, and just wants to boost staffing to help with other areas, like cold cases and animal control.
"Speaking on the patrol level, we have full coverage throughout our whole valley and we will never jeopardize that. We will always have minimum staffing levels. So when we talk about a critical labor shortage and rehiring our heroes, that's more to help with ancillary positions that I can't quite fill right now because I don't have the extra staffing to help with other positions that can help us push things along or get to other tasks that we just can't get to right now," Chief Chadwick said.
Interested former officers who have been retired 5 years or fewer will come on board in March of 2024 for a two-year period. Before that, they will still have to go through screening and tests, just like any other recruit would. Chief Chadwick said the reason they are limiting this program to recent retirees, is because if someone has been retired more than 5 years, they would have to go through the academy again, which would prolong an already lengthy hiring process.
Chief Chadwick tells Channel 13 that right now, HPD has about 50 vacancies for officers, and a little less than 10 for corrections officers. She said she's already heard from retirees who want to rejoin the force temporarily to help.
"There's a lot of interest. I've been having many retirees that I know reach out and ask for this opportunity," Chief Chadwick said.
Chadwick said this initiative is on a two-year basis, and while they hope the hiring situation will have improved by 2026, there is always the option to go back to the city council and ask for permission to extend the program then.
"This is a difficult job, and it's a different world we live in right now. It just doesn't seem to be a job for everyone. I can tell you that 22 years ago, when I hired on, there were 2,000 people in a room testing for one position. We move forward to this. There are maybe a couple hundred applicants we get through every few months, and it's great, we want all the applicants, but once we starting pushing you through all the background and the strict process we have, we start to lose the numbers," she said. "We will not compromise the standards we have for police officers. We do want the best of the best, but we also understand it is a true calling, it's a difficult job, it's a different world we live in."
