THROW ‘EM A BONUS
Published in the May 23, 2026 issue.
On Wednesday, the Mammoth Lakes Town Council unanimously approved a $25,000 signing bonus with 80 hours of leave bank for any new police officer at the start of employment, the largest signing bonus offered by the department yet.
The new incentives are in addition to the pre-existing signing package, which includes a $5,000 moving expense reimbursement, six months of town subsized housing. What’s more, town employees who successfully recruit external police officers will be paid $20,000.
The package upgrades came weeks after MLPD Sergaent Jason Heilman gave a lengthy statement to the council about the department’s struggles to recruit and retain officers. A transcript of that statement was printed in the May 5 issue (p. 4).
But the incentive was considered long before he gave that speech.
Wednesday’s ratification is the third of its kind since Feburary, when Town Manager Rob Patterson and MLPD Chief Dan Casabian teamed up to ratify a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the town and MLPD.
This MOU added incentives for the MLPD’s March recruitment cycle including longevity pay for laterally recruited, sworn personnel. This pay structure increases officers’ salaries by 3% when they have worked for ten years at any jurisdiction, then adds another 3% after 15 years, and a third 3% for 20 years in service.
In April, Casabian and Patterson united again to add recruitment incentives such as a $5,000 signing bonus, a $5,000 relocation reimbursement, and six months of housing in town condos.
With these new incentives, the MLPD hired two candidates during its hiring cycles in March and April, respectively.
The package passed Wednesday is a step-up from these previous two efforts, and mirrors other California police departments’ efforts to laterally recruit officers.
“Some of these agencies are going as high as $100,000 for signing bonuses,” Patterson said. “I’m not recommending that today in our space … [but] we’ve made some similar modifications.”
Patterson could have been referring to a number of institutions, like the Torrance Police Department, which offers a maximum salary of $188,000 and a $100,000 signing bonus, the Monterey department, which offers to pay for a gym membership, or the Coronado department, which boasts a $2,000 education reimbursement.
In order to qualify for the $25,000 signing bonus, laterally recruited MLPD officers must meet a series of requirements.
The incentive can only apply to lateral police officers, and does not include sergeant, corporal, or police officers who have been sent to the academy as a town sponsored recruit.
Moreover, the bonus is paid out to the recipients in 50% increments, one paid after successful completion of field training, and the other after the one year probation period. Newly hired officers must remain employed with the town in order to receive these payouts.
Prior to these three incentive packages, the MLPD had already made an effort to stand out on the Eastside.
“We’ve always differentiated ourselves in the region based on wage,” Patterson said. “We’ve always offered a higher wage than other entities around us.”
The MLPD offers a salary ranging from $108,871. to $132,334 for laterally recruited officers (see classifieds, p.19).
Conversley, the average Bishop Police Department officer salary ranges from $75,000 to $82,500 (though it can exceed $100,000 depending on rank, overtime, and speciality pay, according to Indeed.com).
Inyo County Sheriff officers and deputies make between $68,376 and $100,488, and Mono County Sheriff deputies and seargeants are paid $78,157 to $115,834, according to their respective websites.
But this comparatively high wage is no longer enough for retention and recruitment for the MLPD.
Times are getting desperate. The MLPD is currently short six funded positions, with only 12 currently sworn officers. The short staffing affects key parts of MLPD’s services, including removing patrol between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m.
“I think the ‘defund the police’ initiative from several years ago had a very strong effect of reducing the overal supply of officers and people wanting to go into this particular profession,” Patterson said.
“The need has not changed. The need is growing for officers for this profession.”
