Jefferson City Council approves revised police hiring incentive, 911 facility study

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Jefferson City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved modifying a hiring incentive for police officers.

The council at its regular meeting upped the lateral transfer incentive from $10,000 to $15,000. Prior to this, the $10,00 lateral transfer was paired with a $5,000 hiring incentive for non-licensed academy recruits, according to meeting documents.

“This resolution would authorize the City Administrator to modify the incentive system to increase the lateral transfer incentive to $15,000 and discontinue the non-licensed hiring incentive, reallocating those funds to prioritize lateral recruitment,” the resolution says.

Meeting documents say the incentive would be paid out over four years and that the Jefferson City Police Department from fiscal years 2023-25 averaged $286,618.42 in surplus funding because of position vacancies.

911 facility study

The City Council also approved unanimously JCPD’s request for a 911 facility study. The study would use Community Development Block Grants to “evaluate retrofit options for the Jefferson City Police Department's Communications facility and Cole County EMS Communications Division facility to better meet operational and staffing needs and evaluate the feasibility of constructing a new joint facility,” meeting documents say.

Cole County EMS headquarters was opened in late 2024.  

Meeting documents say a staffing analysis from 2024 determined that JCPD’s and Cole County EMS’ communication facilities were at capacity.

“The 911 Facility Study will evaluate whether the existing centers can be retrofitted- or whether a new joint facility is needed-to provide the space, redundancy, and hardened infrastructure necessary to maintain continuity of operations,” documents say.

The cost of the study has not yet been determined.