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Comments: Generally, compensation is a good sized component of retaining employees including officers. I am not on the face opposed at all to utilize pay to improve retention, but it has to be evaluated as part of an overall program. However, at the same time due to our pension system, it can also be a determining factor as to when an officer may actually retire thereby higher pay, or an increase in pay, may actually spur on retirement. This is a concern of mine. It is also a concerns me that we may see laterally hired officers come onto the police force only to retire a few years later after they have had their spike in income. An experienced hire who shortly retires does not allow the officer to get to know the community that they are providing services to as compared to someone who will be serving the city for a number of years into the future. Questions: In order to properly assess whether these raises will help in retaining officers, a number of questions need to be asked: 1. What has been the rate of retirements for the police force over the past few years? 2. What is the composition of our current police force including age, number of years of service, and year of retirement eligibility with a pension? 3. Has there been a determination of what the likely retirements look like based on our existing police force? 4. Has there been a determination as to the expected number of years that experienced officers will remain beyond what they would have remained without these raises? 5. Has there been a determination as to what an officer's retirement pay will be compared to their compensation when working so as to determine likelihood of retaining them on the police force versus retiring? 6. How will hiring laterally from other police departments impact retention in the next few years? 7. Will these compensation changes improve overall net officers on the police force when comparing officers retiring versus those who are hired? 8. How will success be measured in terms of the goal of improving retention of officers? 9. If the retention goals are not achieved, are there any corrections that will be made? Improve Neighborhood Safety Comments: We all want a safe city. A safe city is good not only for its residents, visitors, and businesses but also for its police officers. Some would say that safer streets may be one of the highest retention and hiring tools that a city may have even beyond compensation for officers. It concerns me that these raises, although well intentioned, may not result in increased safety in our city unless part of an overallplan. I am concerned that officer response times may not improve unless we fill all the vacancies we have. I am concerned that police pay is just one component of improving safety in our parks, streets, and neighborhoods. Questions: In order to properly assess this area, I feel we need to know: 1. Does the city have an overall strategy for utilizing Measure X funds to achieve the public safety improvements desired and how do these raises fit into that strategy? 2. If the city does have an overall strategy, where is it and has it been publicized? 3. If the city has not put out an overall strategy for utilizing Measure X funds, would it be prudent to incorporate police raises into that overall plan? 4. How will these pay increases reduce response times? Is it purely based upon being able to attract more hires? 5. How will these pay increases improve safety in our streets, parks and neighborhoods? 6. How is improving neighborhood safety measured? What data do we analyze? Measure X Strategy Comments: The voters approved the sales tax increase with passing of Measure X, the "Santa Ana Neighborhood Safety, Homeless Prevention and Essential City Services Enhancement Measure". This sales tax increase appears to have wide latitude as to uses in our city. I am afraid that we are putting the cart before the horse by approving these raises without an overall plan for the use of Measure X funds. Even though 5 out of 7 of the councilmembers either voted no while on council or publicly voiced opposition to the sales tax increase during campaigns, we have a great opportunity to shore up the city financially and put safety in the forefront. I am concerned that if we approve of this large of a increase now, we may not be able to make the best choices in the future. I have to imagine that any future Measure X safety strategy plan would include police officer raises, but we need to do it together and comprehensively. Questions: I would like to know: