Lake Bluff patrol officers will work 12-hour shifts, instead of the current eight-hour shifts, under terms of their new labor agreement with the village.
On Nov. 27, Village Board trustees unanimously approved new separate four-year labor contracts with both the police department’s sergeants and patrol officers.
As part of the new collective bargaining agreement, the patrol officers will work 12-hours shifts starting in January as part of a one-year pilot program that can be extended by either side.
The patrol officers requested the change.
“It is more of a benefit for our officers, with quality-of-life time with their families,” said Alex Van Der Linden, the union steward of the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.
Van Der Linden said many police departments are moving to the 12-hour-shift model.
“They seem to work for small and midsize agencies,” he said.
Village Administrator Drew Irvin said village officials had been contemplating the change for some time, and decided now to proceed.
“We wanted to give it a try, because we have been in a situation through COVID that we had some officers leave us for various reasons, some of which said they did not like the eight-hour schedule,” he said.
“In this world where everything is not about compensation anymore, sometimes it is about time off, Irvin continued. “To remain to be as the most attractive place of employment that we can be, that was part of the calculus for us.”
Irvin explained the officers would mostly work two or three consecutive days, and then have two or three straight days off.
Irvin said the police department’s sergeants also agreed to the shift. Currently there are 10 patrol officers in the department. That will be reduced to nine, with the number of sergeants increasing from three to four.
Other highlights of the new contract are 3% salary raises for the first three years of the contract, and a 2.75% raise in the last year. As their previous contract expired on April 30, officers will get retroactive pay.
Patrol officers will have an average annual salary of $101,357 under the new pact, Irvin said.
Also, patrol officers will receive up to 18 hours of compensatory time if needed to take time off, or it can be cashed out for the first time.
“For us, that was a major win,” Van Der Linden said.
The village will be able to hire officers from other departments and immediately place them on the pay scale, depending on their experience, as the village has a lateral hiring program in place. In this system, officers aren’t starting over in terms of salary if they want to start working in Lake Bluff.
Van Der Linden said the officers unanimously ratified the new labor agreement in November.
In a separate vote, the Village Board also approved a four-year contract for the village’s sergeants.
Under the new deal, there will be salary raises of 4.29% in the first year, 3% in the second year and 2.75% in the last two years, with retroactive pay.
The average annual salary of the sergeants will be $124,646 in the new agreement, Irvin noted.
The sergeants have also ratified their new contract, according to village documents.
