Wichita considers giving all police officers a big bonus. Here’s how much, and why

Wichita police officers can expect a $5,000 bonus if the City Council approves an agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police expected to cost roughly $3.4 million.

The existing FOP contract doesn’t expire until the end of 2024, but City Manager Robert Layton agreed to a narrow reopening of the contract in September to address ongoing staffing issues.

“When we opened up the discussions with them, we knew it was going to take a while and we were worried about continued loss of employees,” Layton said.

There are currently 130 commissioned officers who are eligible for retirement, city spokesperson Megan Lovely told The Eagle. All are 50 or older and have served for at least 20 years.

With council approval, all officers will have to do to qualify for the bonus is to remain on the force at least until the end of the year.

“We talked about this and reached a tentative agreement probably 60 days ago,” Layton said. “At that time, they knew that we’d be making this recommendation so we were hoping that that was going to keep people from announcing retirement or resignation.”

Council member Bryan Frye called the bonus package a “necessary first step” but said he expects more will still have to be done to improve recruitment and retention.

“Numbers are not good in terms of the vacancies we have and the numbers that are eligible for retirement,” Frye said. “Doing something while we have these negotiations on the contract in good faith, it shows that we value the officers.”

He acknowledged that nothing in the agreement prevents officers from retiring after collecting the bonus.

“My understanding is that there’s no strings attached,” Frye said. “It’s $5,000 for each employee, and if they take the 5 and retire, that’s one of the risks.”

According to a staff report, the cost of the bonuses would be “offset by under-expenditures in the general fund,” including underspending in the police department, which has consistently struggled to fill its 708 budgeted officer positions. If necessary, the report says, additional money could be transferred from the city’s reserves.

Wichita’s police spending has swelled by $30 million over the last four years. The city’s 2024 operating budget increases WPD funding to $122.5 million or 41% of general fund expenses.

Layton said discussions with the FOP about implementing police accountability recommendations from the Jensen Hughes cultural assessment of the department are ongoing.

FOP President David Inkelaar has pushed back against at least one of the consulting firm’s recommendations to eliminate a contract provision that allows officers who have been accused of excessive force or other wrongdoing to review all evidence against them, including transcripts of full witness interviews, before they present their own narrative during an internal investigation.

“I’m confident we’re going to have some recommendations from Jensen Hughes brought forward,” Layton said.

He hopes to get that done before January, when Frye, fellow term-limited council member Jeff Blubaugh and Mayor Brandon Whipple leave office.

“This council’s been involved in Jensen Hughes as well as the issues of retention and recruitment, so we’d at least like to bring the second piece after retention,” Layton said.

This story was originally published November 20, 2023 at 5:55 AM.