 are currently filled, Riverton Police Department Chief Eric Hurtado told County 10 this week.){kind=link}
The City of Riverton’s budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year includes funding for 28 sworn officer positions – and 21 of those (75 percent) are currently filled, Riverton Police Department Chief Eric Hurtado told County 10 this week.
The nine vacant sworn positions remaining open are for:
-six patrol officers
-two patrol corporals
-one lieutenant
The 21 sworn positions that are currently filled include:
-nine patrol officers
-four patrol sergeants
-two school resource officers
-one chief
-one captain
-one detective sergeant
-one detective
-one special detective
-one school resource sergeant
Civilian staff
The RPD also has funding for 13 non-sworn civilian employee positions for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, Hurtado said, and eight of those (62 percent) are currently filled, including:
-five dispatchers
-one community service officer
-one evidence tech
-one animal control officer
The five open civilian positions include:
-three dispatchers
-one community service officer
-one administrative assistant
Combined, the RPD has funding for a total of 41 staff members, and 29 of those (71 percent) are currently filled.
Nationwide shortage
Hurtado said the numbers reflect a nationwide shortage of “applicants wanting to be police officers.”
“Some police/sheriff agencies are struggling to keep 50 percent staffing,” he said.
City staff have worked to address the issue over the past year by exploring “creative ways” to recruit and retain more law enforcement officers, Hurtado said.
For example, the city provided “some retention bonuses this past year,” he said, and staff asked the Riverton City Council to implement raises for the RPD in the 2024-2025 budget.
“We are exploring other ways to recruit new officers here in Riverton,” Hurtado said. “Some of these new programs will take some time to implement.”
‘Quality applicants’
Despite the current vacancies, Hurtado noted that the RPD has “seen an increase in numbers of applicants” expressing interest in open positions over the last year.
“In the past we barely (saw) three to five applicants for each of these positions,” he said. “Now, we are seeing as many as 15 applications for one of our positions.
“The safety of Riverton is important, and we will continue to explore ways to aggressively recruit quality applicants to serve our community.”
The RPD is also applying for federal funding to cover three additional officer positions, he added.
“These positions would be entry-level and allow our experienced officers to be assigned some specialty assignments – backfilled with the new patrol officers,” he explained. “We won’t know for another couple of months if we would be considered for this grant, but we are hopeful.”
For more information, call the RPD at 856-4891.
Editor’s Note: Chief Eric Hurtado told County 10 that there are actually four patrol sergeants instead of the previously stated two. The post has been updated to reflect the new numbers.