MIDDLETOWN — Police recruits who quit or are fired within their first year on the force will have to refund the town for the thousands it spends to send the new hires to the state police academy.

The Town Council this week approved the new policy, which is aimed at retaining police officers and recouping the town’s investment in them.

The Middletown Police Department has had recent retention problems. For example, three of four promising new police recruits left the town in the last year for police work elsewhere. The town spends roughly $17,000 per officer for police academy training, uniforms and equipment, according to local officials.

Councilman Robert J. Sylvia, a former Middletown police captain, brought the retention problem to the council’s attention earlier this year. The council appointed a study group of municipal officials and current and former police officers to develop the pre-employment agreement for new recruits.

Under the new policy, officers who leave the department within their probationary first year would have to immediately repay the town for what it outlaid on salary payments, benefits, uniforms, equipment, study materials and health and dental insurance while the officer was training at the Rhode Island Municipal Police Academy.

“I think it’s a great first step,” Sylvia said of the agreement at Monday’s council meeting.

The study group found that Middletown’s retention issues are due, in part, to newer officers’ concerns about their compensation. Some recruits find that the starting base pay is much lower — and the health insurance co-share much higher — in Middletown than it is in other area police departments. Newly hired officers also told the study group that they think the Rhode Island pension is not as valuable as other states’ retirement benefits. Plus, the cost of living in the Aquidneck Island area can be a deterrent for Middletown officers, who must live within a 20-mile radius.

Unexpected departures not only cost the town money but can also complicate staffing in the 38-member Police Department.

It takes about 18 months to find and prepare a replacement, with rounds of interviews and physical, swimming, written, psychological and medical exams. Once the new officer completes those tests and the police academy, he or she must complete field training and spend the first year patrolling alongside a senior officer. Probationary officers are at-will employees for their first year; they are not members of the police bargaining unit.

Middletown is not the first community to require its police officers to agree to early-leave reimbursements. At least 12 other Rhode Island police departments have some form of employment agreement or repayment mandate.

For example, Barrington officers must reimburse the town for all training costs if they leave the department within their first three years. Bristol recruits must pay up-front for their training and are repaid over the course of five years. They don’t, however, get refunded if they leave the department within their first year.

When the police union contract expires in 2010, Middletown will consider whether to require reimbursements from officers who leave in their second or third years on the force.

mwims@projo.com