With law enforcement officers in the state in short supply, agencies in Washington have turned to competition for staffing.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, for example, is offering a $25,000 hiring incentive for in-state and out-of-state lateral deputy hires, according to its website. Reversely, the fewer benefits an agency can offer, the more likely its employees are to make lateral jumps incentivized by sign-on bonuses.
Increasingly, this disparity has been felt by tribal agencies, according to Jeff Warnke, director of government and public relations for the Chehalis Tribe. As a step toward combating this, he said, the tribe is seeking to establish a pension program, which currently does not exist nationwide. Federal officers who work on reservations can earn a pension, but not those who are directly reporting to the tribes they serve, Warnke said in a recent meeting with U.S Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Washougal.
With the help of Washington lawmakers and bipartisan co-sponsors throughout the country, the Chehalis Tribe helped develop the Parity For Tribal Law Enforcement Officers Act in Congress, or House of Representatives Bill 8387.
Among other actions, the bill categorizes tribal law enforcement officers in the same realm as federal officers for the purposes of injury, death, retirement and pension benefits.
The bill is currently sponsored by Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, among others, in the House. Warnke said he expects Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Edmonds, to be the legislation’s leader in the U.S. Senate.
During the meeting with Gluesenkamp Perez, Warnke asked she consider signing on to co-sponsor the bill, which she was familiar with.
“I know you can't tell us right here today, but we'd love you to think about signing on. … We need some help with that,” Warnke said.
“(Tribal officers) are not on any system. They can add money to their 401K but there is no pension system.”
If passed, the act would impact reservations throughout the nation.
