Three officers with the Town of Ulster Police Department resigned late last month after taking positions with the City of Kingston Police Department, where they were able to earn more money.
Officers Jacob Studt, Dakoda Wagner and Noah Kight submitted their letters of resignation over a three-day period in late March, with the same departure date, Sunday, March 31. All three were hired by the Town of Ulster within the past two years. Kingston’s gain was emboldened by an aggressive push to hire and maintain officers as local candidate numbers have dwindled in recent years.
In the Town of Ulster, officers are paid an annual salary of $55,170 after one year of service, and $58,960 after two years. In the City of Kingston, officers currently start at $63,118, increasing to $68,568 after two years. Under a new PBA contract, officers in Kingston will soon earn annually $78,276.61 after two years, $81,298.14 after three years, and $82,903.92 after four years.
The departure of Officers Studt, Wagner, and Kight was confirmed at a meeting of the Ulster Town Board held on Tuesday, April 9. At their next meeting on Thursday, April 18, Police Chief Kyle Berardi said the town was not left in the lurch by the resignations.
“I want to make the public aware, rest assured, there has been no decrease in services or coverage to our patrol staff relative to those resignations,” Berardi said. “We just moved three part-time (officers) from their part-time status into full-time status to cover those three openings. So I want to appreciate the board’s willingness over the last year-and-a-half to allow us to increase our part-time staff. That came to head and was definitely useful during this time period.”
But while the Town of Ulster Police Department hasn’t lost a step, Berardi said they’re continuing to be proactive in seeking new law enforcement candidates.
“We are continuously recruiting,” Berardi said. “I, along with my members, attended a meet and greet at the (twice-annual) police academy (at SUNY Ulster) just last week. It’s encouraging. We have two potential hires as well as additional applicants that we received from that meeting.”
The department also attended a career fair at Kingston High School (KHS) earlier this month.
“It was the first one I ever attended,” Berardi said. “I would say I talked to a handful of applicants, or potential applicants, that are looking for a career change, as well as we talked to younger generation or about the potential of entering into law enforcement. It was definitely an eye-opening experience, we handed out applications there, and hopefully we’ll see some return with the potential hires in the near future.”
Berardi added that they’re hoping to get at least six applications back from the KHS visit, which would trigger a background check.
“The background process for employees … in the law enforcement field is very extensive,” he said. “Not everybody makes it that does apply, but the more applicants is a better chance we do find qualified candidates.”
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