Employment

The City of Hastings Police Department is a progressive department that is focused on training, community involvement, and providing quality law enforcement services to the community it serves. The City of Hastings Police Department offers opportunities for officers to grow professionally and personally by providing significant training and educational opportunities. The Police Department prides itself by keeping current with technology and tools, providing officers the resources they need to do their job effectively. 

Please refer to Human Services for the current City of Hastings Fraternal Order of Police Salary Schedule.

Lateral Hiring

Certified officers obtaining employment with the City of Hastings Police Department would begin their pay in the appropriate step, according to their years of service, training, and experience,

Reciprocity

Qualified applicants who receive a final offer of employment would then be in their reciprocity certification through the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center. For additional information about the reciprocity process please visit.

Benefits

The Hastings Police Department retirement plan is a combined total of 14%, half contributed by the employer and the other half contributed by the employee. Percentages are calculated by the employee's income. The employee has access to financial advisors and can choose from various investment plans. The employee can contribute additional funds above the 14%, to other city approved retirement funds.

Health, dental, and vision insurance is available to each employee. The Hastings Police Department budgets $27,000 per year - per employee, to cover health insurance costs. The employee contribution is very affordable and the health plan has great coverage.  There are multiple levels of coverage starting at single coverage to multi-member family coverage.

Vacation, holiday, and sick leave are provided to employees.  Vacation amount accrual increases incrementally as years of service increase. Officer are compensated at a rate of time and a half of overtime hours worked.

FOP

The Fraternal Order of Police Union Contract provides many benefits for sworn officers, to include Master's Pay bonus, educational reimbursement, guaranteed overtime and much more. Click here to view the current FOP Union Contract.

The Hastings Police Department patrol division schedule consists of four shifts: two day shifts and two night shifts.  Each shift works 12 hours either from 6am-6pm or vise-versa.  Officers work a total of seven shifts in a 14 day period (80 hours), with every other Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off.  There are many overtime opportunities within the agency if an employee wishes to earn wages at time and a half.

Divisions and Opportunities

K9, Tactical Response Team, Drone Pilot, General Detective, State and Federal Drug Task Force Detective, School Resource Officer, and MRAP Operator. There are in-house instructors for the following educational topics: firearms, defensive tactics, emergency vehicle operations, less-lethal devices, Taser, Tactical medicine, anti-bias, verbal de-escalation, patrol tactics, breaching, riot control operations, and active shooter response.

Equipment

Upon hiring, the agency fully equips each officer with no out-of-pocket expense to the employee.  All officers receive a complete summer and winter class A uniform, boots, soft body, two pairs of training pants, two polo shirts, two training t-shirts, one 1/4 zip pullover, one training hooded sweatshirt, duty belt with necessary pouches, two sets of handcuffs, lighted handcuff key, OC spray, X26 Taser with holster, collapsible baton, individual first aid kit, tourniquet with holder, tactical flashlight, Glock 45 MOS with Trijicon RMR Type 2 and weapon light, pistol holster, Windham Weaponry 11.5" AR15 with EOTech and weapon light, baseball hat, stocking cap, backpack, duty bag, rain jacket, Guardian Angel safety light, iPad, and police radio with lapel mic. After one year of employment, officers are provided a uniform allowance of $1,000 a year.  This is for officers to maintain their basic uniform such as shirts, pants, and boots.

Uniform and Appearance

Officers are allowed to grow facial hair, to include beards, that is kept neatly trimmed at of under 1/2 inch in length. Visible tattoos are allowed with certain restrictions. Patrol officers are also permitted to wear department issued baseball style hats, load bearing exterior body armor, and drop leg holsters.

Patrol Vehicles and Technology

The majority of the patrol fleet is made up of Ford Police Explorer SUV's. They are a combination of white or black with opposing color decals.  The cruisers are equipped with mobile data terminals, providing officers with a WIFI signal for their vehicle GPS, computer, and iPad. The touchscreen computer provides real time dispatching, maps, and records with report database access. There is a secure rifle mount and a scanner for electronic citations. All prisoner compartments are 1/4-cage style on the passenger side. Each patrol cruiser carries a breaching ram, Halligan tool, and evidence packaging supplies. They are also equipped with a speed radar device and in-car camera system. Each officer is issued a Body Warn Camera as part of their daily patrol uniform.

Facilities 

Our building contains various office areas, training rooms, crime lab, evidence room, locker rooms, 911 Center, and a fully equipped gym to include cardio equipment and weights.

Not only do we provide all of these opportunities and items, we provide a great work environment with a community that fully supports us.  If you have any question about the above information please email

Other Employment

To see all job opening for the City of Hastings, please see our Human Resource page.