PAWTUCKET –– A little more than a month ago, the City Council ratified an agreement giving police officers eligible for retirement a 60-day window in which to retire under their existing contract –– should a new contract eroding their retirement benefits be negotiated.

As of June 30, six police officers retired despite the 60-day window, suggesting that the agreement hasn’t discouraged a mass exodus by the police.

The six retirees are in addition to the three police officers who retired before Doyle administration officials announced that, to balance the budget, they would be seeking major concessions from all the unions representing city workers, including the Fraternal Order of Police.

In interviews, Mayor James E. Doyle and Police Chief George L. Kelley III said there would have been more retirements without the agreement.

“I think six or seven other people would have gone. We stymied that,” Doyle said

Kelly said the six offers who retired as of June 30 probably would have retired anyway. Kelly also said three officers decided to retire before the Doyle administration demanded givebacks on the issue of police retirement benefits.

Police Officers Kenneth W. Sirois and Robert E. Eckman, who worked in Municipal Court, and Detective William P. Magill, an officer in the detective division, retired months before the June 30 exodus, Kelley said,

Six other officers put in their papers after the administration made it clear it would be seeking givebacks on the issue of retiree health benefits.

Kelley identified the six as Officers Angelo Squadrito Jr., Dennis S. Woynar and Christopher R. Buser; and Detectives Steven R. Allcock, Carl A.. Horrocks and Peter J. Healey.

Horrocks and Healey worked in the identification bureau. Allcock was in computer operations. Buser and Woynar were police prosecutors. Squadrito was the Police Department’s senior citizen advocate and the officer who made sure all the school crossing guard posts were covered.

None of the recent retirees was on active duty in the patrol division, Kelley said, so nobody in the Police Department has had to be called back on overtime to cover their shifts.

In interviews last week, 6 police recruits were selected from a list of 10 candidates maintained by the Police Department, according to Kelley.

Five of the recruits will enroll in the police academy next month, he said, completing the 16-week course of training by Thanksgiving.

The sixth recruit, a police officer in Swansea, Mass., is considered a “sit-in” candidate who will be able to get on the job much sooner, Kelley said.

Although the recent retirements have left holes in the department, Kelley said he is confident that they can be filled quickly, in some cases by shifting people around; in others, by having civilians to assume the retired officers’ duties.

On the other hand, circumstances could change suddenly, resulting in a sharply increased demand for police manpower.

“All it takes is a double murder or a couple of drive-bys,” Kelley said.

jcastell@projo.com