AURORA, Colo. — Aurora hopes a retention bonus will help with the city's police officer shortage.
Some city leaders have proposed an $8,000 retention bonus using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to address staffing challenges in the Aurora Police Department (APD).
In a letter to the city manager sent on Dec. 13, Mayor Mike Coffman and city council members say, "The Aurora Police Department has continued to face ongoing retention challenges at the same time our city has seen a historic rise in crime."
City leaders agree in the letter that the city's police officers are stretched thin and taking longer to respond to calls.
The letter also states the police department "can no longer accept the status quo of reassigning officers from specialty units in order to cover patrol, prolonged response times, and officers being stretched far too thin because of staffing challenges."
The city council proposed to pay half of the $8,000 bonus in April 2022, with the second half paid in October. The proposed $8,000 retention bonus would be in addition to the $2,000 bonus already proposed for 2021.
Those who signed the letter to the city manager include Coffman, Mayor Pro Tem Francois Bergan and council members Curtis Gardner, Danielle Jurinsky, Angela Lawson, Steve Sundberg and Dustin Zvonek.
Coffman tweeted about the proposal on Monday:
The council asked the city manager to finalize a plan and present it to council on Dec. 20 for final approval.
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