Jun. 13—An incentive pay increase could help attract trained recruits and curb staff shortages in the Muskogee Police Department, officials say.

At a special meeting Monday, Muskogee City Council members approved a $15,000 hiring incentive for police candidates certified through the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training, an agency that trains people for law enforcement.

The department’s previous incentive was $10,000 for certified candidates and $5,000 for non-certified candidates. The newly adopted policy drops the incentive for non-certified candidates.

Muskogee Police Chief Johnny Teehee said the department is rapidly losing officers.

“We anticipate losing six officers in the next 45 days,” Teehee said at the council meeting. “We’ve never lost this many police officers at one time.”

Muskogee Police Spokeswoman Lynn Hamlin said the police department has 81 officers, but should have 85.

“We will potentially be losing five in August to Oklahoma Highway Patrol, so that will put us down nine at that point,” she said.

Teehee said pushing an incentive for trained candidates will get officers on the street faster.

“If there’s no training, one year is the quickest way we can get them on the street,” he said. “With training, we can cut that down to four to five months.”

Even with the incentive, Muskogee must compete with other law enforcement agencies to hire officers.

“Comes down to money a lot of times, and we’re not close to being able to match that,” Teehee said.

City Councilor Dan Hall, police chief for Muskogee Public Schools, gave an example of the situation facing Muskogee.

“When you hire a younger officer, you’re paying what Johnny pays, $40,000 a year and then he’s got to work 15 years to make $60,000,” Hall said. “And then he says ‘look, if I can go to Broken Arrow tomorrow, I can make $60,000 now and in nine years, I can make $98,000.”

Teehee said Broken Arrow Police Department pays even better than that.

Hall said the city tried to bring the pay rate up several years ago.

“We’re still falling short because everyone says ‘hey look what Muskogee did,’ and they raise theirs even more,” he said.