The Conroe Police Department will have more flexibility to hire experienced officers after the council approved an amendment to the city’s 2026 meet-and-confer agreement with the Conroe Police Officers Association during its June 25 meeting.
The details
The change centers on lateral hires, or officers who already have law enforcement experience and can join the department without starting from the beginning of the academy and training process.
Police Chief Jon Buckholtz said the department had previously been limited to 14 lateral hires. Seven of those slots had already been used, leaving the department with seven more available, even though Buckholtz said he has more openings than that.
Under the amendment, the department will no longer have a set cap on lateral hires. Instead, Buckholtz will be able to determine how many are needed.
Buckholtz said the change does not mean Conroe will stop hiring and training new officers. However, he said lateral hires give the department another option to fill positions faster and use city dollars more responsibly.
“I believe that it’s fiscally responsible to do this, as opposed to the yearlong training process only,” Buckholtz said.
Diving in deeper
When asked by Mayor Duke Coon to explain the difference between hiring a new officer and bringing in someone with experience, Buckholtz said Conroe is preparing to graduate 14 people from its police academy who were hired last October. After graduation, those recruits still have to complete about three months of field training before moving into a one-year probationary period.
He estimated the conservative cost to train a new officer at about $100,000, while noting the industry standard can be closer to $250,000.
At 14 officers, Buckholtz said that creates a significant difference for the city.
“That number of 14 is easily a million dollars savings to the city, but it’s not just the savings, it’s not just the money,” Buckholtz said.
He said the bigger benefit is that experienced officers already bring judgment and training that cannot be created overnight.
“We’re going to be getting a known product in a person,” Buckholtz said. “I cannot purchase intuition, I can’t purchase experience that takes years to develop.”
One more thing
The amendment also allows the city to adjust the entry pay step for lateral officers based on experience. Buckholtz said those officers would not bring seniority from another agency, but they could be paid in a way that reflects their background.
“They won’t bring seniority,” Buckholtz said. “But they will be able to be paid commensurate to their experience.”
How we got here
The change comes as Conroe has been trying to make police and fire pay more competitive over the last year.
In September, the council approved a 6% cost-of-living adjustment for all city employees as part of the fiscal year 2025-26 budget. At the time, Buckholtz said Conroe officers had gone six years without raises and the department had 19 openings.
Even with the 6% raise, Conroe’s first-year officer pay was still lower than Montgomery County’s entry-level pay, according to prior Community Impact reporting. Buckholtz also said then that pay remained one of the biggest factors in attracting and keeping officers.
Then, in March, council voted to restore the city’s step pay program for police and fire civil service employees, making the pay retroactive to each employee’s anniversary date. Former City Administrator Gary Scott said fully reinstating the program for the 2025-26 budget cycle would cost about $1.12 million.
What they’re saying
Council members spoke in support of the change during the meeting.
Council member Shana Arthur said allowing experienced officers to enter at a comparable pay level could make Conroe more competitive when recruiting officers from other departments.
Council member David Hairel also supported the amendment, calling it a benefit to the department and residents.
Council member John Sellars said the proposal made sense.
“I think it’s just good common sense,” Sellars said. “Way to go. It makes perfect sense to me. Please proceed.”
The amendment also includes language related to specialized duties and future stipend eligibility. According to the discussion, officers assigned to certain specialized roles could be eligible for a monthly stipend set by the council. The eligible assignments discussed included SWAT, Honor Guard and the Special Response Group.
No stipend amounts were approved during the discussion.
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Publisher: Houston – Community Impact Newspaper