San Jose police recruit criticizes high application fee

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Police departments throughout the Bay Area are recruiting, but ABC7 News discovered one agency that charges applicants -- San Jose Police. An ABC7 News viewer told us San Jose's fee was enough to "just say no." We looked into the fee and whether it is sending a wrong message to applicants.

San Jose has been working hard to recruit officers as veterans leave for higher pay and benefits elsewhere, but it imposes a fee other departments don't -- a $100 fee paid to an outside contractor to proctor written and physical exams for the applicants.

"People are already looking at San Jose and saying, 'Hey, they don't pay as well. Their benefits are much lower than everywhere else,' and now you have to pay a significant amount of more money than to apply somewhere else, so this is going to be a factor when people decide where to apply," San Jose Police Officers Association vice president James Gonzalez said.

And that's what Jovani Trevino brought up in a letter he shared with us to San Jose's police chief. He wrote, "This is definitely working against your hiring needs greatly. I have not proceeded forward in the process for this very reason."

San Jose residents don't think the fee is fair.

"Especially if they're not being paid enough for what they do, it doesn't make any sense that applicants should be having to pay," San Jose resident Ofelia Melendez said.

San Jose police turned to an outside contractor during the recession and budget crisis. Other cities, including San Francisco, Oakland and Richmond, don't charge applicants fees. And that might give them a competitive edge.

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo says he didn't know about the fee, but believes it hasn't had a negative impact on finding quality applicants and filling academy classes.

"I'm certainly open to looking at this and talking to the chief about whether we want to continue that, but to my knowledge, it hasn't been a deterrent in numbers," Liccardo said.

San Jose Police Capt. David Honda recognizes that for some applicants, $100 can be a hurdle.

"Especially if you're struggling financially and you want to be an officer for the San Jose Police Department, that can be a hurdle because a $100 can go a long way for some people," Honda said.