BATON ROUGE — Baton Rouge Police Chief TJ Morse says interest in joining the department has skyrocketed since announcing plans for a massive police pay raise.

According to Morse, the department has received more than 75 job inquiries. Many of them are from officers at different departments or former BRPD officers wanting to come back.

"The chatter has been through the roof. Lines at recruiting people have been blowing up, people calling,  looking into getting a job with us, but not just official lines and emails coming through the recruiting office, but people who have left in the last year wanting to come back and wanting us to rehire them," Morse said.

Under the proposal, which has yet to be approved by the Metro Council, officer base pay would increase from $41,000 to $58,000 annually. That's an increase of more than 40 percent, putting BRPD's pay higher than comparable departments statewide.

"The only reason we are able to recruit people right now is because we are a top-tier department in the entire country," Morse said.

Morse says in just the past year, they've lost about a dozen officers to higher-paying jobs nearby and out of state. But with the promise of higher pay, he says tides are turning.

"And also police officers at other departments that want to come lateral over and go through a shorter academy, and it's a quicker turnaround, so that we can get some boots on the ground by the end of the year," Morse said.

"Back in the day, we had lateral academies 15, 20, 25 people. And our latest lateral had three or five," he said.

BRPD is currently understaffed by more than 150 officers. Morse says if these raises pass, in the first year, they'll be able to pay about 30 new officers.

But not everyone is feeling the love.

"It's not about feeling like they shouldn't have it. But if they get it, the constables should get it as well," said Constable Terrica Williams.

Williams has been vocal about her disappointment that her officers aren't included. Last year, she lost funding and positions from her office as a result of budget cuts.

"At the end of the day I'm hurt. I'm frustrated," Williams said.

"I don't understand the criticism," Morse said. "I mean I get it to a point where people are like, 'Hey, what about all these other people?' To me, it's not an us versus them thing. I think that there is room and I think the mayor has made it very clear he wants to take care of everybody. Right now, his priority is police."

The money is coming from the city-parish's general fund through savings from health insurance. It will cost about $7.5 million for the remainder of the year and $12 million annually thereafter.

If passed, the raises will take effect in mid May and be reflected on officers' paychecks in early June.