Lansford Borough hopes to attract and retain more part-time police officers by raising their hourly pay.

Council voted at a special meeting Monday night to increase pay for part-time officers to $21-23 per hour, depending on how long the officer has been with the department.

Part-time officers were previously paid $16 per hour.

Departments locally and nationwide are having trouble attracting and keeping part-time officers. Council hopes the pay increase will encourage officers to pick up shifts with the department, particularly on weekends and holidays.

“It is necessary to get the additional help so our current full-time officers do not get overburdened with their already overwhelming caseload,” council President Jared Soto said.

Lansford Police Department currently has six full-time officers. Council budgeted for a seventh officer in 2019, but recently voted against filling the position.

Soto said part-time officers are needed to help cover when the full-time officers have time off, and when it is beneficial to have more than one officer working at a time.

Lansford Police Department Chief Jack Soberick said the shortage of officers is a national problem which is affecting many local departments.

Soberick said most of the applicants for part-time jobs are young officers who are awaiting a full-time position. When one becomes available with another department, they leave. That creates a revolving door.

“I want these people to have great careers and move up, but it’s tough for all the small towns,” Soberick said.

In another era part-time officers were people who had other jobs in the community, but took on part-time shifts to help their community, he said.

The same problem affects full-time police. Larger departments like Allentown, Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania State Police are hiring. They offer higher pay and opportunities for advancement which small departments can’t compete with, Soberick said.

“We’re up against a whole bunch of issues which make it tough to retain people,” he said.

Soberick said regional police departments may become a more attractive option for small towns in the future if the trend continues.

Soberick said he did not propose the idea to raise part-time officer pay, but he believes they should receive the same pay as their full-time counterparts.

Lansford Police Department’s part-time officers have most of the same responsibilities of full-time officers, Soberick said. The only thing they don’t do is long-term investigations, mainly because of the high rate of turnover.

“The men and women of all departments do a tough job. I never thought there should be a discrepancy between part time and full time,” Soberick said.