The Elko New Market Police Department has been struggling to get candidates for patrol officer positions.
City Administrator Tom Terry and Police Chief Craig Bell informed the Elko New Market City Council at its Thursday, May 18, meeting how for about the last year the police department has been trying to fill its ranks. Terry said since last year the department has three vacancies. The department has been in a near-constant state of hiring officers, said Terry. Sometimes candidates receive better offers from other police departments. Terry and Bell have been in discussions to try and make a position with Elko New Market’s police department more attractive, Terry said. One suggestion is an increase in pay as hiring police officers has become a competitive market, noted Terry. A factor in Elko New Market’s favor are police officers who want to move into smaller communities, Terry said.
The starting salary for a police officer in Elko New Market is $39.25 an hour, said Terry. He added the annual salary budgeted for the department’s nine police officers is $945,630 and the total operating budget for the police department is $1,485,924.
Terry had suggestions for the council to consider so Elko New Market could hire police officers. One concerned paid time off (PTO) for lateral police officers, who are police officers who have built up years of experience and PTO in different police departments. Terry said some police officers build up PTO, but lose it when they move to a new police department.
Bell said Elko New Market’s current PTO system is that a new police officer would start with zero PTO and build it up from there. Bell said he and Terry are proposing when an experienced police officer comes to Elko New Market, rather than start from zero PTO, the officers would receive upfront 40 hours of PTO if they already have four years of experience.
Bell noted the Elko New Market Police Department rarely gets lateral officer applicants. The lateral officers the department has hired have usually been from outstate police departments that are further north or south of...
To see more on this story pick up the June 18, 2026 print edition of The New Prague Times.