Cape Coral City Council to discuss police sign-on bonus

Reporter: Tiffany Rizzo Writer: Nicholas Karsen
Published: Updated:
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Cape Coral police badge. Credit: WINK

The Cape Coral City Council will discuss a cash incentive to attract new hires for the police force during the next council meeting.

Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore stated that the department is short-staffed.

“When you add staffing shortages and mandates overtime and holdovers when you should be going home, it creates a compounding effect of stress,” said Sizemore. “If we can get more people in that unit and get them trained, it will definitely be a pressure release where people will have that work-life balance, so people will be better performers when they are here.”

The police department wants to offer a $10,000 sign-on bonus to entice more people to join the force.

The proposed sign-on bonus will be split between $5,000 after signing up and another $5,000 once they finish probation.

The Cape Coral Police Department. Credit: WINK

As the City of Cape Coral continues to explode in population, the CCPD has made it a top priority to be staffed properly.

Understaffed police departments are not an exclusive issue for Cape Coral, as vacant law enforcement positions are available nationwide.

The sign-up bonus will match surrounding agencies in Fort Myers and Naples in hopes that more people will be interested in joining the CCPD.

The city council meeting is scheduled to be held on Wednesday afternoon.

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