COEUR d'ALENE — Police departments across the country are finding it harder to fill their ranks, and Coeur d'Alene Police Chief Lee White said Monday his department is no exception.

The exception is that White is doing something about it.

The chief worked with the Coeur d'Alene Police Officers Association and proposed adding an incentive to people interested in an entry-level position at the department who also have experience at other law enforcement agencies. During a meeting of the city's General Services Committee Monday, White presented the "Lateral Officer Recruitment Program" and said many qualified applicants with several years of experience in law enforcement are reluctant to move to Coeur d'Alene, where they would find themselves at "the bottom of the food chain."

"We want to entice some really qualified applicants to come to our department," White said.

White explained the program would give an officer coming from an agency that is as big as or bigger than Coeur d'Alene's police department credit for every two years of service at their previous agency. If the agency is smaller, White said every three years of experience will equal one year of experience with the Coeur d'Alene PD.

For each year of credit the lateral transfer has, they will receive an additional 5 percent on top of the base wage for entry level officers, which is about $22.50 an hour. White added the incentive caps off at 20 percent, which would equal an additional $4.50 per hour.

The department now gives officers hired with previous law enforcement experience a maximum of 5 percent above entry level wages. They’re paid about $24 an hour.

White told the committee — comprised of City Councilors Amy Evans, Kiki Miller and Ron Edinger — that there are positives and negatives to hiring officers with previous experience. Sometimes, White said, an officer who comes from another agency has "baggage and bad habits" that must be addressed.

"But there's also some benefits in that. With our entry level applicants, many of them are on our payroll for five or six months before we can evaluate them appropriately and decide whether they're what we want," White said, adding lateral hires can often be immediately placed on patrol.

To ensure the program is fair to officers previously hired by the department with other law enforcement experience, White said he found that two officers of the nine hired in the last five years would have to have their wages adjusted should the program be approved. One officer, White said, would receive an additional $4,908.80 per year, and the other would receive an additional $1,277.

White said the new program would only be in effect until a new contract is made with the Coeur d'Alene Police Officers Association in 2017.

"We are suffering vacancies within the department that we haven't been able to fill and, at the same time, we are asking more and more of the department," said Jim Hammond, city administrator. "We've got everything to gain and nothing to lose by giving this a try. It's an opportunity to get some folks that we can get right on the streets who are stronger folks."

The committee unanimously voted in favor of the program, which now heads to the full council for final approval during its August meeting.