New incentive program brings in recruits for North Las Vegas police

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - The North Las Vegas Police Department is ponying up to bring in new officers.

The department is offering a $30,000 bonus to lateral transfers, plus $5,000 for moving expenses for people coming from outside the Las Vegas Valley. Another $5,000 is available to veterans.

Depending on experience, new officers can expect to make between $61,000 and $98,000 per year with a four-day workweek.

“There’s a big up-front cost in training brand-new officers,” Lieutenant John Cargile, who works with recruits, said about why the department is going after experienced officers. “We’re actually paying for those two years of experience that they bring to our department from other agencies.

Cargile says the program has been a massive success, with 25 lateral transfers currently being processed by the department.

“That number is growing day to day,” Cargile said. “It’s probably four to five times what we saw before in the past since we’ve offered our incentives.”

Shantriece Thornton is in week four of her training at NLVPD. She started before the incentive program was rolled out, and since she’s a new recruit would not have qualified regardless. She says, bonus or not, she’s honored to be part of the force.

“Helping the community, reaching people, being mentors to kids, mentors to adults even,” she said. “It’s definitely worth it.”

Cargile says the incentive program will continue until the department’s 42 open positions are filled.

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