DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Delray Beach police officers said they are leaving the department for more growth, career options and higher pay at local sheriff's offices, according to exit surveys WPTV received from a public records request.
Union officials have repeatedly cited low wages as the primary driver of departures amid an impasse in negotiations with the city.
WATCH BELOW: Records show why Delray Beach police officers left the department
However, these records paint a more complex picture of the reasons officers are looking for other positions over the last year.
WPTV reporter Ethan Stein found that 50% (9 of 18) of the exit surveys show employees mentioned pay concerns for leaving the department.
But, even more employees, 72% (13 of 18) discussed better opportunities for growth and career development.
Most of those employees indicated they were moving to either the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office or the Martin County Sheriff's Office, two agencies with significantly larger budgets than the Delray Beach Police Department.
Delray Beach police officers are represented by the Florida Police Benevolent Association.
The union has been in a pay dispute with the city of Delray Beach over a future contract agreement for the police department for more than a year. On Thursday, the city and the union reached an agreement that included agreeing to add $500,000 to $600,000 to the salary budget over a three-year period.
WPTV asked Florida PBA President John Kazanjian if a pay increase would stop employees from leaving Delray Beach. He said he believes it would because retention had been relatively stable before the contract dispute began.
Delray Beach
Delray Beach, police union reach agreement on terms of new contract
"Absolutely. We've never had this problem before," Kazanjian said. "Before these three got in here, retention was fine. Now all of a sudden these three get in here and they are anti-police because we didn't endorse them … and they are taking it out on the men and women of the Delray Police Department."
Those three people that Kazanjian is referring to are Mayor Tom Carney, Commissioner Juli Casale and Commissioner Tom Market.
The union has been actively campaigning against those three members of the commission, who they believe are obstacles to creating a new contract.
Regardless, staffing issues have created various problems within the Delray Beach Police Department.
Police Chief Russ Mager resigned from his position in June. In an email sent to Town Manager Terrence Moore in May, Mager said the department could be down 25 officers.
"With our current shortages, I have been forced to temporarily reassign officers from specialty units to include pulling from the Detective Bureau, Criminal Intelligence Unit, Motors/Traffic Unit, Problem Oriented Policing Unit and Community Policing Unit," Mager said. "The Community Policing unit has been temporarily dismantled due to the staffing deficit."
Mager said he was considering "farming out" serious criminal investigations like homicides, shootings, stabbings, rapes, robberies, sexual assault and traffic homicides to an outside agency due to a lack of resources.
The city appointed assistant police chief Darrell Hunter as the new chief of police on Wednesday.
