121 Grads is Below Target
Now Correction Has Recruiting Problems

By REUVEN BLAU

The Correction Department plans to create a Recruitment Unit, which it hopes will generate additional applicants, as slightly more than half of the agency becomes eligible to retire within the next five years.

MARTIN F. HORN: Uneasy eye toward future.

Correction Commissioner Martin F. Horn said last week that the department is already more than 100 officers short of its projected headcount. "I could not say that we are in good shape," he said during a phone interview several hours after swearing in 121 new Correction Officers. "It's now a much-harder challenge and it requires that we make greater efforts."

150 Fewer Than Planned

The new recruits joined the 131 officers who completed their training on Feb. 20. The department, however, had planned to hire a total of 400 officers this month to help handle the recent increase in inmates.

The Correction Department has struggled to recruit new officers at the reduced starting salary of $26,667, which rises to $34,742 after six months, for a combined first-year compensation of $30,710. There are currently 8,302 Correction Officers.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang A GRADUATING SALUTE: The new class of 121 officers assembled outside the ceremony at John Jay College March 22. The Correction Department, however, is 100 officers short, and has plans to create a Recruitment Unit to help attract more candidates, as many officers will become eligible to retire over the next five years.

"My bigger worry is the next three years," Mr. Horn said. "We expect a large number of retirements because of the 20-year retirement in the next three years." That length of service qualifies officers for a full pension.

The department, he said, plans to hire 350 new officers this year and 600 in 2008. "And 55 percent of officers will be retirement-eligible within the next five years," he added. "We will have to replace one-third of those." Presently, the DOC doesn't have a fulltime civilian staff to help with recruitment. The department has asked for funds to pay for three civilian employees to run the new recruitment unit. That is projected to cost $517,106 in fiscal year 2007 and will be used to support recruitment efforts by Correction Officers.

Overtime Rose As Result

The shortage of officers has led to the department's increased overtime costs, which it is estimated will rise to more than $90 million this fiscal year. The Bloomberg administration added a one-time funding of $15 million last November to help cover some of those added costs. The latest budget plan includes an additional $8.3-million increase to cover overtime expenditures for the rest of this fiscal year.

"This increase in overtime costs is attributable to the department's inability to hire up to its authorized headcount," a City Council Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services report stated.

Based on that report, the department indicated that it expected to hire a class of 400 new recruits in March. The document also noted that the department has 1,000 officers who will have reached their 20th year of service and be eligible to retire with their full pension in 2007. "This will likely cause DOC's attrition level to remain high, generating the need to backfill post assignments using correction officers on overtime," the report said.

400 More Inmates

Commissioner Horn acknowledged that the issue is a problem. "Our overtime spending is definitely higher than what we would like it to be," he said. "That is in part due to vacancies, and also in part to our inmate population, which is higher than projected."

The average daily population (ADP) has increased to 13,898 in 2007 from 13,494 last year. "Our average population is on average 400 higher," Mr. Horn noted. "We handle those fluctuations on overtime."

He maintained that safety has not been jeopardized by the shortage of officers. Over the past dozen years the department has transformed, reducing inmate-on-inmate violence at Rikers by more than 95 percent. In fiscal year 2006, there were 37 such assaults. By contrast, there were 1,093 in 1995.

As for last week's graduating class, 21 members have or have had a family member on the job, and 14 have previously served in the military. The class valedictorian was Correction Officer Peter Cangro. The salutatorian was Lai Wah Kwong.

The new officers finished a 15-week instruction course at the New York City Training Academy in Middle Village, Queens. The training included classes in security, use of force techniques, constitutional law, chemical agents, physical instruction, communication skills, investigation procedures, and first aid.