BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Members of the Bakersfield Police Officers Association demanded the city of Bakersfield to provide fair, competitive pay for its officers who have been working without a contract for over four months.

The comments were made during the public comments portion of the Wednesday evening Bakersfield City Council meeting.

Numerous Bakersfield police officers wearing blue shirts attended the meeting to sit in front of the city council as the organization’s representatives spoke publicly.

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BPOA President Max Hernandez criticized the expiration of the contract between the city and the police officers.

“It’s unbelievable to me and frankly unacceptable that the city would allow its contract with police officers to expire,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez said Bakersfield police officers respond to violent calls quickly despite being out of contract, but the quick response times will worsen as more officers will begin to leave for other departments for better pay.

BPOA Vice President Robert Tyo urged the city to prioritize a contract for the police department, which has been expired for 127 days.

Tyo said Bakersfield’s officers have worked tirelessly for years to make the city safe and brought down response times and crime rates, but the department is still losing officers.

“Talented officers are jumping ship to nearby agencies offering much higher pay and better benefits, we simply aren’t competitive and that gap is widening,” Tyo said.

Tyo also said BPD is no longer competing with large cities like Los Angeles or San Francisco, but losing talent “in our own backyard.”

Josh Deutinger, a sergeant in charge of the BPD Traffic Division and a member of BPOA, said the police department is losing more and more officers to neighboring agencies.

“These officers aren’t leaving because they’re tired of the job, they’re leaving because they can provide better for their families by working elsewhere,” Deutinger said.

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Deutinger said other cities have recognized the decreased job interest and found other ways to attract qualified, competent and already trained officers. These include higher wages, fully-paid medical benefits, full offsets of retirement contributions and the ability to roll over accrued vacation and sick time.

“Those are big incentives, our officers can’t even get a contract or cost of living increase,” he said, asking the city to give the officers fair and competitive pay.

The Bakersfield City Council did not comment on the matter during the meeting.

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