Colorado State Patrol facing growing issues with lack of funding
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Colorado State Patrol is calling on state lawmakers for more funding. Officials say the department is facing growing problems with pay disparity, traffic safety, and turnover.
Over the last 18 months, CSP lost an average of seven troopers a month, which is a total of 120 troopers leaving.
"Now the hard part is we can’t recruit hire and train enough people fast enough to keep up with this rate of attrition," said Cpt. Lawrence Oletski, the president of the Colorado State Patrol Association.
Oletski says many of them are taking jobs with higher-paying agencies.
"We're in this pay-for-performance system that has been around for two decades. The hard part is that we’re compensating people at the same rate whether they have one year or 15 years. Pay for performance has only been funded twice in the last two decades. One time it was .8 percent the other time it was 1.1 percent," said Oletski.
Oletiski said traffic fatalities are also rising with fewer troopers on the roads.
"Last year in Colorado the highest rate for fatal crashes was over 750, I think the final official count was 753, that’s the highest rate since 1981," said Oletski.
It's an issue that state legislatures are looking to solve. Right now, the budget includes an 11 percent increase or about $7.3 million for state troopers.
"We can’t just keep losing troopers, and we need to pay them appropriately and make sure they’re at the salary they need to be at," said Senator Babara Kirkmeyer.
Senator Kirkmeyer says the joint budget committee is focused on investing in public safety and matching pay with other top agencies.
"There was a law passed in 2000 that we have not been adhering to, and I just think when we have those kinds of obligations, if we pass that law then we should have been adhering to those obligations. So, I feel pretty strongly about it," said Kirkmeyer.
Senator Kirkmeye said she feels confident the pay increase will pass as part of the budget this year.
