Kentucky police chiefs are stumping for legislation that would make it cheaper for city police agencies to hire retired police officers.

Currently, if a city wants to hire a retired officer, that city has to pay 33 percent of the retired officer’s new salary into the state’s retirement system and pay insurance premiums, neither of which the retired officer can receive in his or her new job because he or she is already receiving those benefits through the state’s retirement system. Sheriff’s offices are already exempted from having to pay those expenditures if they hire a retiree.

Kentucky House Bill 71, introduced Jan. 5 to the House State Government Committee, would “preclude retirement and any health contributions from being paid by the city to Kentucky Retirement Systems or the Kentucky Employees Health Plan on a retired officer who is re-employed under the provisions of this section; permit individuals employed under this section to be employed for a term not to exceed one year which may be renewed at the discretion and need of the city,” according to the text of the proposed legislation.

“You have trained people out there that you can bring back in,” said Jim Pendergraff, executive director of the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police. “There are some agencies that have brought back retired people to work in the evidence room. They are already trained. They have been in the profession. They are knowledgeable. They are a great asset to bring back to work.

“It’s gives flexibility,” Pendergraff said.

Retirees don’t have the learning curve of a new hire. The police academy is 23 weeks long. After graduation from the academy, an officer would have a training period that varies from one agency to another. Pendergraff estimates that it takes a full year from the date of hire to background check, test and train an officer before that officer is ready to be out on his or her own.

Bellevue Police Chief Wayne Turner, who is on the legislative committee of the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police, oversees a department of 11 police officers.

Bellevue, with a population of about 6,000, is nestled near the Ohio River and is considered a part of the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Region. It is a small town with big-city crime problems, and Turner said he needs as many officers as his city will hire to fight crimes associated with the growing heroin problem in that region.

“It’s the best economical solution for the taxpayer, and for me as a police chief I get an officer on the street immediately,” Turner said of HB 71. “Our crime statistics have gone through the roof since heroin hit in about 2013. It allows me to immediately get boots on the ground. It allows me to keep an officer in a task force where otherwise because of the crime trends I would have to pull that officer out of the task force and put him back on the streets.”

Bellevue police partner with federal law enforcement agencies in the Safe Streets Task Force. This allows Turner to assign an officer from his agency to the task force to deal with heroin head on. The federal government pays that officer’s salary. But because of the crimes borne out of the heroin problem such as burglaries, robberies and child abuse/neglect, taking one of his 11 officers away from answering calls can be a luxury that his department can’t always afford. And adding to his ranks under the current laws is too costly because the city would have to pay into the insurance and retirement fund. Also, that officer would become a permanent hire. HB 71 would allow departments to hire retirees on a yearly contract basis.

If HB 71 passes, Turner would like to hire a retired detective to assign to the task force while keeping his other officers ready to answer day-to-day calls.

“If we hire a new officer, it takes about three to five years for a new officer to get the experience needed to be effective” on a task force, Turner said.

The legislation would allow his city “to go out and hire these seasoned officers who may have served on task forces and immediately put them on these task forces and put them on the street,” he said.

Bowling Green Police Department does not often hire retired officers, Chief Doug Hawkins said. But he sees the value in the proposed legislation.

“HB 71, in short, proposes to relieve local government of the burden of paying the ’employer’s portion’ to the state managed retirement system (hazardous duty) for officers that have already retired once from the retirement system and are no longer eligible to draw a second retirement,” Hawkins said in a written statement. “The City of Bowling Green has only had the opportunity to re-hire a retired officer that was interested in returning to the workforce a handful of times. This opportunity doesn’t present itself often because of the state imposed restriction on when re-employment can occur for ‘Hazardous Duty’ retirees. The statutory mandate for retirees to remain out of employment with governmental entities that participate in the state managed ‘CERS – Hazardous Duty’ retirement system makes it difficult for retired officers to become re-employed with a participating governmental body – especially if they are seeking re-employment quickly.

“If passed, this legislation would result in a savings to the employer by not having to pay into the retirement system for that particular employee. The employer could potentially realize a several thousand dollar savings per year for each re-hired retiree.

“It is not uncommon for small police agencies in small towns or counties to hire retired officers to staff their police departments,” he said. “I believe this legislation has the potential to positively impact the budgets of small police agencies that rely on hiring retired officers, typically retired from larger agencies, to staff their smaller police departments. I don’t believe the City of Bowling Green will see a significant benefit from this legislation if passed simply because of the relative infrequency we hire or re-hire retired officers,” Hawkins said.

Franklin Police Chief Roger Solomon said the proposed legislation, if passed, would give police agencies more flexibility.

“It’s something that I definitely believe would be beneficial for us,” Solomon said. “Typically retirees usually don’t come back into municipal policing. We’ve never had any retiree applicants.”

If the law changes, Solomon sees hiring of retired officers as something that would appeal to city officials.

“When you’re looking at cutting out that amount of cost that gives you a lot more flexibility,” he said. “Say our department is looking at the possibility of going up one officer, that gives you a lot of flexibility when you are speaking to your commissioners. I think it’s going to be very lucrative if it goes through.”

— Follow Assistant City Editor Deborah Highland on Twitter at twitter.com/BGDNCrimebeat or visit bgdailynews.com.