Slippery Rock is looking to hire two new part-time police officers.

Borough council voted 6-1 in a Tuesday Zoom meeting to advertise the part-time opportunities, aiming to bring the department up to eight officers, including four full-time and four part-time.

Shawn Pugh, borough manager, said Slippery Rock has about 98% coverage through its own police department, with state police filling in during those times that no officers are available to work, such as holidays.

The two part-time hires would cover those unfilled hours, with its goal of 100% local police coverage.

“Every officer is contractually obligated to vacation days,” Pugh said. “We’re somewhere around 80 days a year we have to cover. We have two part-timers now, and they can’t always work shifts we need.”

Additionally, Pugh said hiring part-time officers would save the borough money because they won’t need to be paid extra for working holidays, and would not accrue overtime pay even when covering for an officer taking paid time off.

“Right now, police working holidays get double time and a half,” he said. “We’re paying $18 an hour to part-time officers. We broke down those numbers, and even after we’ve equipped officers, the savings in one year would be $13,000, and a five-year projection would be saving $90,000.”