Vancouver police offering $10K signing bonus to officers who leave other departments

The Vancouver Police Department is offering $10,000 signing bonuses to 20 officers who leave other forces and join up with the city.

Spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison told reporters Tuesday that the move offers a "very small incentive" to experienced officers and said it is a way to try to target "the best people" amid ongoing recruitment efforts.

"We're offering an incentive to experienced officers who want to, in some cases, leave a community that they've served for a long period of time to move to Vancouver to serve here," Addison said.

"It's a gesture and it's an important gesture that we're prepared to make to acknowledge the experience."

The high cost of living in the city and the expense of moving were two reasons cited in support of the move, which Addison said is in line with what other police agencies and private companies do when competing for scarce human resources.

The Victoria Police Department offered a $20,000 signing bonus from late 2021 to the end of 2023, saying it was a response to a "critical mass shortage" of officers. After 18 were hired – three of whom ultimately resigned – the incentive was scrapped.

Addison says the VPD is not in a hiring or staffing crisis, noting that there were more than 100 officers hired last year thanks – in large part – to a promise made by Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC majority to fund these positions.

"Recruiting is going great," he said, adding that because of retirement and attrition hiring "never stops."

Police officers in Vancouver are the highest-paid in Canada, after the union ratified a new agreement at the end of 2023 – with a first-class constable making roughly $122,000 per year starting in 2024. The new contract also included a boost to benefits.

Ralph Kaisers, the Vancouver Police Union's president, said at the time that the compensation package would assist the department's efforts to encourage officers to join the force.

“Recruiting is not just a local issue,” Kaisers said. “Provincially and nationally, everyone is seeking people from basically the same pool of candidates. So it's very competitive right now, and we need to draw as many good candidates as we can to Vancouver."

When Victoria brought in its incentive, Chief Del Manak said it ruffled some feathers in the law enforcement community.

"Canadian chiefs across the country and many of my colleagues were not happy with me," he told CTV News.

“They were asking me how long I was going to have this initiative because they literally were saying, ‘Well, I may have to now offer that.’”

The president of the Canadian Police Association, in a social media post, slammed the VPD's offer.

"This is stupid (and) a slap in the face of existing officers...creates entitlement on one hand & inequity on the other. Not creative at all, potentially attracts wrong kind of person," Tom Stamatakis wrote, adding that he would support financial help with moving or relocation expenses.

CTV News has contacted him for comment, and this story will be updated if a response is received. CTV News has also asked the VPD to respond to this criticism.

'RIDICULOUS': FORMER SOLICITOR GENERAL SLAMS PLAN

According to one insider, the bonus isn’t going down well with active VPD officers.

“Paying them a bonus to join is ridiculous,” former solicitor general and police chief Kash Heed told CTV News on Tuesday.

“I can tell you from discussions I’ve had today with police officers who are now serving in Vancouver – they are actually dumbfounded. This is going to be a real morale downer for the people who are working hard each and every shift in Vancouver.”

Heed, who is now a city councillor in Richmond, questions why the Vancouver department needs this kind of perk, given that VPD officers are already among the highest paid in the country.

“You have a very good city, you have a highly paid police department, you have proper structures in place, you have proper oversight in place – for them to bring themselves down to this level to having to pay bonuses for people to join – I just don’t understand that whatsoever,” Heed said. 

With files from CTV News Vancouver Island's Anna McMillan and The Canadian Press