At the February 24, 2016, Finance Committee Meeting, members shared their concerns that POST's Law Enforcement Consultants (LECs) salaries had not "kept pace" with similar State classifications.  There was discussion on how historically LECs had been compensated similar to "Lieutenants" at the California Highway Patrol (CHP) but currently were being compensated below CHP's "Sergeant".

Committee members expressed concern that there had been similar discussions (during the last few difficult budget years) but not much had been done to correct the disparities. Staff was instructed to research salaries and benefits for similar state classifications and report back to the Finance Committee on both their findings and the steps needed to address the disparities.

Pursuant to the committee's direction, staff researched various classifications and found two classification series and one other non-series classification  which perform somewhat similar functions to those performed by POST LECs (See Attachment A).  These include: 1) Bureau Chief (BC) and Assistant Bureau Chief (ABC) series within the Division of Law Enforcement (DLE) at the Department of Justice (DOJ) ; 2) Chief/ Assistant Chief/ Captain/ Lieutenant/ and Sergeant series at the California Highway Patrol (CHP); and 3) Field Representative (FR), Board of Corrections at the Board of State Community Corrections (BSCC).

While all of the DOJ, CHP, and BSCC positions identified above provide higher salaries, it was noted that most of these classifications are peace officer classifications pursuant to Penal Code Section 830 et. seq.; thus, allowing them to make an arrest pursuant to Section 836 as to any public offense with respect to which there is immediate danger to person or property or the escape of that perpetrator of that offense and may carry firearms if authorized by their agency. Peace officer duties are not similar to POST LEC duties.  LEC's are responsible for consulting and advising law enforcement agencies and institutions of higher learning on the establishment and implementation of productive police education and training programs, and to give general consultation to law enforcement agencies in the various phases of their operations and make recommendations regarding more successful means of law enforcement.  After reviewing CalHR's classification specifications, the only non-POST classification which was found to truly perform mostly-similar duties was the Field Representative, Board of Corrections.

As a result of the findings above, staff anticipates sharing this information with CalHR staff to determine if a request for adjustment can go forward to the State Personnel Board (SPB).  If it is approved by CALHR to go forward, CalHR would develop (in conjunction with POST) a "Board Item" package to present to SPB at one of their Board Meetings for approval or denial.