The Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department in New York City announces it will change its personnel policies as of January 1, 2021. The department will move towards a voluntary retirement system and implement a new Employee Assistance Program. These new programs will be implemented to reflect the needs of those employees who have been under the age of retirement.
The changes are being made to make the Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department more flexible and adaptive to current trends in the policing industry. Tajuna Sharpe, the Director of the Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department, spoke about this new initiative during a recent press conference.
The Roosevelt Island, Public Safety Department, was founded in 1847 and had a long history of successfully handling large-scale events and being a top patrol service for the New York City boroughs. Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) took over the police department in 2015 and soon after began to implement changes to its policies.
Those changes were the result of several years of careful observation and research. The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation made a preliminary list of 500 officers working for RIOC for over fifteen years and determined that roughly 300 would retire between 2020-2021. Additionally, approximately 150 detectives will retire annually in 2021-2025. Tajuna Sharpe explained that completing these data forms was necessary because they are the final steps in preparing for future changes.
The new initiatives aim to help fill some of the gaps left by the retirement of these officers and detectives. Those goals include providing transportation for volunteers, implementing a new mental health services program, and developing robust support systems for officers, detectives, and their families. The Roosevelt Island, Public Safety Department, plans to implement a voluntary retirement system and a new Employee Assistance Program.
Once an officer or detective decides to transition to the new systems, they are eligible for retirement and receive a one-time payment of six months of employee benefit payments. After this first period, they must pay into the program every year.
