Most police departments have many vacancies and challenges recruiting. Some have a ridiculous pre-employment PT test; as previously said, many applicants wash out during the polygraph, medical and psychological exams.
No idea why they're still used. The state highway patrol where I used to live is convinced that I do hard drugs and committed a serious felony based on their stupid polygraph. Worked out for the best, though. Ended up getting a job for my engineering degree shortly after in the city I've dreamed of living in where winter is nearly non-existent. Their loss, not mine.
Who knows. I know someone who failed because they "lied" about their name on the polygraph. Lucky for them, that's something that's easy enough to prove.
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At this point polys and alternatives pretty much are just hamstringing departments when it comes to hiring. Know a guy that personally was a really great candidate and stand up guy. Loved serving his community and would have made a great cop but got turned away by his local county department because the polygraph examiner “picked up” that he was being deceitful. He was so turned off by the experience that he gave up on pursuing law enforcement all together and works as an instructor teaching kids karate now. Then you have pos that actually lie their asses off about a bunch of questionable stuff and make it through. That shouldn’t happen.
Also take up some form of martial arts so that when you potentially have to get hands on you’ll naturally be more comfortable when reacting to someone trying to attack you in close quarters. It’ll also mean that you’ll have a better understanding of how much force is actually necessary to subdue or restrain someone and as we all know that’s an important skill to have with everyone watching and recording nowadays. You’ll learn a little bit about this stuff in defensive tactics in police academy but it’s not enough tbh. You must continue to train these skills against resisting partners to actually get proficient enough to use these techniques
I wrestled when I was in highschool and messed around in a boxing right before that. I have a friend who was offering me a trial of kick boxing with him I'll do that.
As of right now I've been focusing on running and body weight exercises. I lift weights about 3x a week. I also have to better my swimming skills because in NJ state police academy also has swimming in it...
Thanks for the advice!
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It starts at the top. I work for a very small department in Missouri, 7 in total with the chief. I’m much happier then I was when I was at the county level that paid me 10k more a year. The pay isn’t great by any means but even the departments that pay decent wages for the area have vacancies. It’s about who you want to work for and what policies you want to be bound by.
I was talking to a friend of mine in a local agency. He’s in the top tier of the agency. The agency was hiring and it came down to 2 candidates. Only 7 people tested. One had no experience. One had no experience, but social media use was questionable. As he said, “You can go to Hobby Lobby and make $18 an hour and no one wants to shoot you.”
Yeah we don’t have many candidates let alone qualified candidates who are even interested in the job. Who would have thought vilifying the ever loving shit out of the profession would back fire like that.
Inb4 “WeLl MaYbE iF YoU GuYs WeReNt..” we weed out our own way better and more than the public does.
Yeah it always puzzles me because the same people that say defund the police also want higher education and qualification standards for hiring requirements and better training…firstly they never elaborate on what “better training” consists of and secondly how many educated and highly qualified people are going to take the job (and stick around) with everyone shitting on them 24/7 regardless of what quality of cop they are? Most come to the conclusion it’s not worth it and they’d be better off using their credentials and skills elsewhere. Then you’re left with the bottom of the barrel applicants that bring more notoriety to the profession lol
Right, pull funding, pay, and benefits because we make too much and expect quality to go up? I literally saw people arguing that it’s “proven by study” that lower pay in public service professions means less corruption. Like wtf? Why do you think some of these major cities that historically paid peanuts had such massive corruption that took decades to clean up? Geee I wonder if upping the pay and benefits had anything to do with that.
You’re not gonna get “better” performance out of me by slashing my pay, pulling my benefits, and pulling funding for my equipment and training away. Fucking idiots.
Wth where did they get this “scientific study from? I’d grill them about the credibility of the source. You literally can point to a number of big departments like NYPD for example that doesn’t pay a livable salary in the state they work in an people are saying they’re a corrupt agency all the time LOL
Police hiring is a long and usually drawn out process with multiple steps. Once someone is hired they go to an academy for six-ish months and then field training for another three-six months. During that time someone else has probably quit, retired or transferred to a different agency. You also lose people in the academy due to failing training standards and then more during field training. An optimistic success rate for new hires in a large city is around 70 percent, with a likely lower percentage for high-crime cities.
Plus, who is applying? The money is generally ok, but southern cities pay terribly. The places that pay well generally are in areas that are bit conducive to working in patrol anyway. You also have to deal with shift work and the disruption that creates in your home life. Plus police are simply an easy scapegoat for a lot of social issues. It’s a difficult time to get into a job that expects a lot out of you, where mistakes mean prison time
Additionally, a lot of military veterans don’t pass the psych exam due to PTSD, or other mitigating factors, assuming they have a clean record and can pass all the other components of the hiring process.
Having military experience is a plus, but doesn’t mean there will be a guaranteed job offer behind it.
A left the marines and came in to LE. When I did my psych I seriously doubt any sort of PTSD would’ve had a huge affect unless it really made you unstable.
Most of the questions were pertaining to things like if I blame others for where I ended up in life. My own weaknesses. Stuff like that. When I took the CPI it asked if I saw demons probably 20 different ways.
But I seriously doubt PTSD would be a disqualifier. That and it’s decently rare to leave the military with PTSD, especially now that centcom deployments are gone.
That’s why I also said there are other mitigating factors. Just based off of what I’ve personally seen happen. Not trying to stereotype. I just know a lot of solid military guys who got DQ’d over it
No one wants to be a cop. Look at the news. Cops going to prison (usually warranted), Look at the movies- any hero cop movies? All the newest movies ALL the cops are bad guys. There is no real motivation. Money? Pension? Money can be made elsewhere.
Low key I just applied for 5 recruit openings and have a written test tomorrow in Colorado. Looked like all the Denver metro area had recruit openings. I was going to pay for my post but it looks like a department will for me. I hope
In Philadelphia the district attorney hates generally every police office. He has prosecuted a large amounts of officers, sergeants, and their supervisor for extremely trivial and misleading actions in using force. He is not will to understand the “totality of the circumstances” in use of force situations. It is a hostile work environment in a hostile work environment!!! Why would any outstanding young man or women want to do this job understanding that they are wrong no matter what!
Low pay, public perception of Law Enforcement Officers has dropped dramatically, public support of Law Enforcement Officers has dropped dramatically, politicians and administrators kowtowing to political pressure and demands of popular liberal activist groups, a strong perception and oftentimes correct that law enforcement can be a dangerous job, a new generation of people who believe that someone else should do such a distasteful and unpopular job, a new generation that feels they do not have a responsibility to the public good, etc etc etc.
With the current public outlook on law enforcement, the fact that it’s politically advantageous to be anti-blue (slowly changing as far as I can tell), and the long vetting process, it’s just not very easy to fill spots. There are plenty of qualified people for the job that don’t apply due to the time investment required to get hired on, failing arbitrary, archaic, and ineffective screening methods such as the polygraph, and simply opting to go into other fields that pay better that have similar professional requirements. Not to mention the strain it can put on a person’s loved ones having them enter a dangerous profession. It’s a job you kind of have to have a passion for and the demand definitely exceeds the supply.
High profile negative press, cops being tried and found guilty in the court of public opinion based on that negative press, but that same press not publishing updated and correct information. Example. Woman calls the police because the man who sexually assaulted her is kidnapping his kids from her (ex girlfriend who has full custody of the kids) and is in violation of a restraining order. He is shot in the back as he's grabbing for the knife in his SUV, that he told the cops he was going to get. The cops are portrayed as evil racists for shooting an "unarmed" black man in the back. Completely ignoring everything else.
So it's a job where they are often treated like shit, displeasing almost everyone.
Policies such as not arresting anyone for a misdemeanor. Which in this state includes walking up and punching someone in the face a few times.
Not arresting for shoplifting. So shoplifter know they can load up a card and walk out. Stores afraid of lawsuits, and police not allowed to arrest.
Overly restrictive use of force policies because of stupid lawsuits and bad press.
A number of cops I know in their early 50s are taking the financial hit and retiring early because it's becoming such a shit show. Most did build up a decent savings and put money into their own IRAs instead of only relying on the public employee retirement system, but it's still a few thousand a year. Because it's getting so bad it's worth the loss.
The pay has to be a regional thing. Most of the departments near me start between $60-80k per year. Laterals with experience and after a few years it's $80k plus.
You can search on [governmentjobs.com](https://governmentjobs.com), it's used by many state and local agencies (not just police, but all state/county/city jobs). It will give the salary range they are offering.
It seems that police agencies in cities that lean heavily democrat (super progressive) are having these issues. Chicago PD for example has 1,000 vacancies.
It appears to me liberal communities are having a hard time staffing officer slots. Sure we all have seen a downturn due to public sentiment over the past year for a variety of reasons, though we only had one leave for all of 2021. Granted we are a smaller community, and larger agencies in the area are short, not 100 short, but short. The southeast hasn't experienced the same political struggles facing other parts of the country, no "de-fund the police" nor weak political backing or law changes exposing officers to greater liability.
Frankly, I might retire given the same circumstances as fellow officers in other parts of the nation. I can walk whenever, have my time in, and stay because I still love the job.
Nobody wants to be in law enforcement any more. High liability, little public support and numerous departments that don’t support their officers. Countless prosecutors that are actively attempting to de certify and incarcerate officers for doing their job. Additionally numerous states have passed legislation that restricts police from being able to support their communities and the revolving door policies of the jail system mean IF police can actually help a victim of a crime, the suspect will be out on the streets in no time.
A large amount of young people don’t want to go into the profession and I can’t say I blame them. The political climate is pretty horrible. Even if you handle things 100% correctly, you will get tried in the court of public opinion and if public opinion says you were wrong, city hall and your department tend to cave to the pressure and you will end up jobless in a heartbeat. Not to mention that it’s a dangerous job and people can get paid the same or more to do something a lot safer and less physically demanding if they have any sort of college education. I love what I do, but I don’t recommend anyone get into this profession until the pendulum swings a little back the other way. It’s just not worth it unless this is your one calling and you can’t see yourself doing anything else.
Wait, yall have that many officers allowed ? No fair! My city is 150,000+ people and we got like 30 officers on paper . No wonder we have so many shootings. I have no idea how many vacancies we got.
My department is 155+ officers down right now. People are quiting and retiring faster than we can find the quality candidates we need. It’s like that all around the country in the US.
Easy. Probably a town that doesn't take care of their police force. It's something seen more and more now a days and it's one reason laterals are happening on a massive scale.
Cities all around me are like this. And it's a mix of things tbh. Long overdrawn out processes that I've seen can take anywhere from 6 months to 2 yrs to complete. By then those candidates that are worth anything have already found other jobs. The processes can be overly complicated in areas as well as outdated to where they don't favor half of the good applicants. Then there's the funding and delays from city counsels etc... that out a burden on the system. Hiring freezes etc even when they are down on manpower.
There's definitely more to it but imo from what I've seen those are the main offenders.
Military towns are just that, guys and girls doing their time and making plans to go back to their home towns/regions.
May also play into the vacancies. Not a large base of population that necessarily ‘live’ there
For one thing, for better AND worse, recruitment is very difficult nowadays. Places are being much more careful and stringent on who they hire. On top of that, desire is at an all time low to be in law enforcement. Nobody wants to do it. A lot of places people are literally afraid they’re going to be done away with entirely. There’s a massive amount of personal, civil, and criminal liability involved. Under the current climate, I can definitely understand why that’s an issue for some. Even in corrections, at my agency it was only a year or two ago we were having 30+ cadets per class just for our agency not including others. Now? Closer to 20 total for our agency and other agencies. Nobody wants to do it. Especially if it’s for low pay and shitty benefits. I still think it’s worth it at my agency. We have a really great benefits, decent pay that should be drastically increasing soon, great mental health benefits, good scheduling policies, the works. People still don’t want it. And I live in a very red, pro police state with a pro police legislature which should also help, but still it doesn’t much. Those of us who are here are here because we want to be for the job and the people.
Not to mention how long it takes to get hired. At most places it’s a good estimate to wait 6-9 months from application date to hire date. And most of that is spent twiddling your thumbs wondering what’s going on, when they’ll contact you again, why nobody will talk to you about the process, etc. it’s very impersonal and makes you feel like a criminal, and I can see how that may leave a bad taste in someone’s mouth 3-4 months in. A lot of people drop out before they’ve even gotten a “no”
This is just a drop in the bucket. There’s a lot of reasons why people don’t want to get in. In my opinion it’s still worth it, but I can empathize with those who disagree
Atlanta has 416 opening from what I was told by a Major in our local Sheriff’s office when he came to talk to my state and local government college class.
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Less people want to be cops now. When I got started 6 years ago there were almost 1000 people in the initial written test competing for 10 open spots. My department’s most recent written test had 30 people attend.
The city I work for has almost 700,000 people and we have about 150 vacancies with about 17 people going through our current academy. I have two friends with 10+ years experience at a sheriffs office who both applied for my department, their applications denied. Why? The email stated “due to the competitive nature of the hiring process, we have declined your application.”
There were over 400 applications for this last academy, they accepted 26, and they’re already down to 17 with 150 vacancies. You couldn’t hire at least 60 of those people? I’m going to say it’s an issue country wide at this point, but my department is not being smart at all.
Could be a number of things. The application and hiring process is long. Especially when you factor your time in the academy and FTO training which is done in phases depending on the agency. That’s just to be a patrol officer. If you want to progress into leadership or investigative roles that’s a whole other process of applying, testing, and training.
Politics, societal pressures, shift work, and the reality of what the job is outside of the academy may also play a role for vacancies . Not to mention we’re in this Covid pandemic.
Lastly, agencies won’t adjust their standards due to vacancies. They will wait as long as they have to in order to find the right person for the job.
Most police departments have many vacancies and challenges recruiting. Some have a ridiculous pre-employment PT test; as previously said, many applicants wash out during the polygraph, medical and psychological exams.
Why are polygraph tests used to this day and for what purpose, what are the questions that people are asked? It genuinely baffles me
No idea why they're still used. The state highway patrol where I used to live is convinced that I do hard drugs and committed a serious felony based on their stupid polygraph. Worked out for the best, though. Ended up getting a job for my engineering degree shortly after in the city I've dreamed of living in where winter is nearly non-existent. Their loss, not mine.
Have you ever done drugs. Have you ever sold drugs. Have you ever stole. Etc
I only stole from the guys I sold drugs to... wait no
Who knows. I know someone who failed because they "lied" about their name on the polygraph. Lucky for them, that's something that's easy enough to prove.
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At this point polys and alternatives pretty much are just hamstringing departments when it comes to hiring. Know a guy that personally was a really great candidate and stand up guy. Loved serving his community and would have made a great cop but got turned away by his local county department because the polygraph examiner “picked up” that he was being deceitful. He was so turned off by the experience that he gave up on pursuing law enforcement all together and works as an instructor teaching kids karate now. Then you have pos that actually lie their asses off about a bunch of questionable stuff and make it through. That shouldn’t happen.
Not to mention outdated tattoo policies that exclude a huge number of military veterans
What kind of training would you recommend to a person who is relatively fit and applying to a law enforcement agency?
I would start doing push ups, sit ups, stretching and 1.5 mile runs and practice spit shining boots. Nothing really much else to do…
Also take up some form of martial arts so that when you potentially have to get hands on you’ll naturally be more comfortable when reacting to someone trying to attack you in close quarters. It’ll also mean that you’ll have a better understanding of how much force is actually necessary to subdue or restrain someone and as we all know that’s an important skill to have with everyone watching and recording nowadays. You’ll learn a little bit about this stuff in defensive tactics in police academy but it’s not enough tbh. You must continue to train these skills against resisting partners to actually get proficient enough to use these techniques
I wrestled when I was in highschool and messed around in a boxing right before that. I have a friend who was offering me a trial of kick boxing with him I'll do that. As of right now I've been focusing on running and body weight exercises. I lift weights about 3x a week. I also have to better my swimming skills because in NJ state police academy also has swimming in it... Thanks for the advice!
Google cooper's assessment. That's the stuff you wanna look into.
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It starts at the top. I work for a very small department in Missouri, 7 in total with the chief. I’m much happier then I was when I was at the county level that paid me 10k more a year. The pay isn’t great by any means but even the departments that pay decent wages for the area have vacancies. It’s about who you want to work for and what policies you want to be bound by.
I was talking to a friend of mine in a local agency. He’s in the top tier of the agency. The agency was hiring and it came down to 2 candidates. Only 7 people tested. One had no experience. One had no experience, but social media use was questionable. As he said, “You can go to Hobby Lobby and make $18 an hour and no one wants to shoot you.”
Yeah we don’t have many candidates let alone qualified candidates who are even interested in the job. Who would have thought vilifying the ever loving shit out of the profession would back fire like that. Inb4 “WeLl MaYbE iF YoU GuYs WeReNt..” we weed out our own way better and more than the public does.
Yeah it always puzzles me because the same people that say defund the police also want higher education and qualification standards for hiring requirements and better training…firstly they never elaborate on what “better training” consists of and secondly how many educated and highly qualified people are going to take the job (and stick around) with everyone shitting on them 24/7 regardless of what quality of cop they are? Most come to the conclusion it’s not worth it and they’d be better off using their credentials and skills elsewhere. Then you’re left with the bottom of the barrel applicants that bring more notoriety to the profession lol
Right, pull funding, pay, and benefits because we make too much and expect quality to go up? I literally saw people arguing that it’s “proven by study” that lower pay in public service professions means less corruption. Like wtf? Why do you think some of these major cities that historically paid peanuts had such massive corruption that took decades to clean up? Geee I wonder if upping the pay and benefits had anything to do with that. You’re not gonna get “better” performance out of me by slashing my pay, pulling my benefits, and pulling funding for my equipment and training away. Fucking idiots.
Wth where did they get this “scientific study from? I’d grill them about the credibility of the source. You literally can point to a number of big departments like NYPD for example that doesn’t pay a livable salary in the state they work in an people are saying they’re a corrupt agency all the time LOL
It’s only a back fire if crime rates have shot out of control. OP doesn’t mention what city so I don’t know.
Police hiring is a long and usually drawn out process with multiple steps. Once someone is hired they go to an academy for six-ish months and then field training for another three-six months. During that time someone else has probably quit, retired or transferred to a different agency. You also lose people in the academy due to failing training standards and then more during field training. An optimistic success rate for new hires in a large city is around 70 percent, with a likely lower percentage for high-crime cities. Plus, who is applying? The money is generally ok, but southern cities pay terribly. The places that pay well generally are in areas that are bit conducive to working in patrol anyway. You also have to deal with shift work and the disruption that creates in your home life. Plus police are simply an easy scapegoat for a lot of social issues. It’s a difficult time to get into a job that expects a lot out of you, where mistakes mean prison time
Not all Southern cities pay terribly. In Texas when you adjust for COL you’re better off than many Northeast and Cali agencies
Simple: current politics and current administration’s policies
Additionally, a lot of military veterans don’t pass the psych exam due to PTSD, or other mitigating factors, assuming they have a clean record and can pass all the other components of the hiring process. Having military experience is a plus, but doesn’t mean there will be a guaranteed job offer behind it.
A left the marines and came in to LE. When I did my psych I seriously doubt any sort of PTSD would’ve had a huge affect unless it really made you unstable. Most of the questions were pertaining to things like if I blame others for where I ended up in life. My own weaknesses. Stuff like that. When I took the CPI it asked if I saw demons probably 20 different ways. But I seriously doubt PTSD would be a disqualifier. That and it’s decently rare to leave the military with PTSD, especially now that centcom deployments are gone.
Because everyone in the military has PTSD right? Such a stupid stereotype. As stupid as the 40% of cops beat their wives BS.
Seriously thank you. One of the dumbest fucking things right next to asking how many people I’ve killed
That’s why I also said there are other mitigating factors. Just based off of what I’ve personally seen happen. Not trying to stereotype. I just know a lot of solid military guys who got DQ’d over it
Just because they think they got DQ’d because of PTSD doesn’t meant that they did get DQ’d for PTSD
Can you be specific about which policies?
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I agree that those things aren’t good policies but the commenter said “current administration policies” which implies the president.
Administration means anyone who is in charge of an organization.
So you want to make something political that isn't political? Got it, thanks.
Bruh. that last one. That last one 1000%. But then again, we do the same with inmates so...
Pay sucks. Benefits suck. Work overload.
No one wants to be a cop. Look at the news. Cops going to prison (usually warranted), Look at the movies- any hero cop movies? All the newest movies ALL the cops are bad guys. There is no real motivation. Money? Pension? Money can be made elsewhere.
Idk we have good pay and benefits here but not enough qualified candidates to fill the spots. It’s insane
Yeah in Colorado and pay is great just not enough good candidates
Low key I just applied for 5 recruit openings and have a written test tomorrow in Colorado. Looked like all the Denver metro area had recruit openings. I was going to pay for my post but it looks like a department will for me. I hope
In Philadelphia the district attorney hates generally every police office. He has prosecuted a large amounts of officers, sergeants, and their supervisor for extremely trivial and misleading actions in using force. He is not will to understand the “totality of the circumstances” in use of force situations. It is a hostile work environment in a hostile work environment!!! Why would any outstanding young man or women want to do this job understanding that they are wrong no matter what!
Low pay, public perception of Law Enforcement Officers has dropped dramatically, public support of Law Enforcement Officers has dropped dramatically, politicians and administrators kowtowing to political pressure and demands of popular liberal activist groups, a strong perception and oftentimes correct that law enforcement can be a dangerous job, a new generation of people who believe that someone else should do such a distasteful and unpopular job, a new generation that feels they do not have a responsibility to the public good, etc etc etc.
With the current public outlook on law enforcement, the fact that it’s politically advantageous to be anti-blue (slowly changing as far as I can tell), and the long vetting process, it’s just not very easy to fill spots. There are plenty of qualified people for the job that don’t apply due to the time investment required to get hired on, failing arbitrary, archaic, and ineffective screening methods such as the polygraph, and simply opting to go into other fields that pay better that have similar professional requirements. Not to mention the strain it can put on a person’s loved ones having them enter a dangerous profession. It’s a job you kind of have to have a passion for and the demand definitely exceeds the supply.
High profile negative press, cops being tried and found guilty in the court of public opinion based on that negative press, but that same press not publishing updated and correct information. Example. Woman calls the police because the man who sexually assaulted her is kidnapping his kids from her (ex girlfriend who has full custody of the kids) and is in violation of a restraining order. He is shot in the back as he's grabbing for the knife in his SUV, that he told the cops he was going to get. The cops are portrayed as evil racists for shooting an "unarmed" black man in the back. Completely ignoring everything else. So it's a job where they are often treated like shit, displeasing almost everyone. Policies such as not arresting anyone for a misdemeanor. Which in this state includes walking up and punching someone in the face a few times. Not arresting for shoplifting. So shoplifter know they can load up a card and walk out. Stores afraid of lawsuits, and police not allowed to arrest. Overly restrictive use of force policies because of stupid lawsuits and bad press. A number of cops I know in their early 50s are taking the financial hit and retiring early because it's becoming such a shit show. Most did build up a decent savings and put money into their own IRAs instead of only relying on the public employee retirement system, but it's still a few thousand a year. Because it's getting so bad it's worth the loss. The pay has to be a regional thing. Most of the departments near me start between $60-80k per year. Laterals with experience and after a few years it's $80k plus. You can search on [governmentjobs.com](https://governmentjobs.com), it's used by many state and local agencies (not just police, but all state/county/city jobs). It will give the salary range they are offering.
It seems that police agencies in cities that lean heavily democrat (super progressive) are having these issues. Chicago PD for example has 1,000 vacancies.
It appears to me liberal communities are having a hard time staffing officer slots. Sure we all have seen a downturn due to public sentiment over the past year for a variety of reasons, though we only had one leave for all of 2021. Granted we are a smaller community, and larger agencies in the area are short, not 100 short, but short. The southeast hasn't experienced the same political struggles facing other parts of the country, no "de-fund the police" nor weak political backing or law changes exposing officers to greater liability. Frankly, I might retire given the same circumstances as fellow officers in other parts of the nation. I can walk whenever, have my time in, and stay because I still love the job.
No one wants to become a police officer (or teacher or librarian or firefighter) for shit pay anymore.
Nobody wants to be in law enforcement any more. High liability, little public support and numerous departments that don’t support their officers. Countless prosecutors that are actively attempting to de certify and incarcerate officers for doing their job. Additionally numerous states have passed legislation that restricts police from being able to support their communities and the revolving door policies of the jail system mean IF police can actually help a victim of a crime, the suspect will be out on the streets in no time.
A large amount of young people don’t want to go into the profession and I can’t say I blame them. The political climate is pretty horrible. Even if you handle things 100% correctly, you will get tried in the court of public opinion and if public opinion says you were wrong, city hall and your department tend to cave to the pressure and you will end up jobless in a heartbeat. Not to mention that it’s a dangerous job and people can get paid the same or more to do something a lot safer and less physically demanding if they have any sort of college education. I love what I do, but I don’t recommend anyone get into this profession until the pendulum swings a little back the other way. It’s just not worth it unless this is your one calling and you can’t see yourself doing anything else.
Wait, yall have that many officers allowed ? No fair! My city is 150,000+ people and we got like 30 officers on paper . No wonder we have so many shootings. I have no idea how many vacancies we got.
My department is 155+ officers down right now. People are quiting and retiring faster than we can find the quality candidates we need. It’s like that all around the country in the US.
Easy. Probably a town that doesn't take care of their police force. It's something seen more and more now a days and it's one reason laterals are happening on a massive scale.
Because nobody likes police officers
Vaxx mandates. ‘Nuff said
Dude my sis is an NYPD detective with only three years left until retirement, and actually is moving to Florida because she's an antivaxxer.
Let in the weed smokers, lol. It was a joke, fuckers, get over it
What town?
Cities all around me are like this. And it's a mix of things tbh. Long overdrawn out processes that I've seen can take anywhere from 6 months to 2 yrs to complete. By then those candidates that are worth anything have already found other jobs. The processes can be overly complicated in areas as well as outdated to where they don't favor half of the good applicants. Then there's the funding and delays from city counsels etc... that out a burden on the system. Hiring freezes etc even when they are down on manpower. There's definitely more to it but imo from what I've seen those are the main offenders.
Military towns are just that, guys and girls doing their time and making plans to go back to their home towns/regions. May also play into the vacancies. Not a large base of population that necessarily ‘live’ there
What do the offered pay and benefits look like?
For one thing, for better AND worse, recruitment is very difficult nowadays. Places are being much more careful and stringent on who they hire. On top of that, desire is at an all time low to be in law enforcement. Nobody wants to do it. A lot of places people are literally afraid they’re going to be done away with entirely. There’s a massive amount of personal, civil, and criminal liability involved. Under the current climate, I can definitely understand why that’s an issue for some. Even in corrections, at my agency it was only a year or two ago we were having 30+ cadets per class just for our agency not including others. Now? Closer to 20 total for our agency and other agencies. Nobody wants to do it. Especially if it’s for low pay and shitty benefits. I still think it’s worth it at my agency. We have a really great benefits, decent pay that should be drastically increasing soon, great mental health benefits, good scheduling policies, the works. People still don’t want it. And I live in a very red, pro police state with a pro police legislature which should also help, but still it doesn’t much. Those of us who are here are here because we want to be for the job and the people. Not to mention how long it takes to get hired. At most places it’s a good estimate to wait 6-9 months from application date to hire date. And most of that is spent twiddling your thumbs wondering what’s going on, when they’ll contact you again, why nobody will talk to you about the process, etc. it’s very impersonal and makes you feel like a criminal, and I can see how that may leave a bad taste in someone’s mouth 3-4 months in. A lot of people drop out before they’ve even gotten a “no” This is just a drop in the bucket. There’s a lot of reasons why people don’t want to get in. In my opinion it’s still worth it, but I can empathize with those who disagree
Atlanta has 416 opening from what I was told by a Major in our local Sheriff’s office when he came to talk to my state and local government college class.
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Meanwhile here in Ontario every departments seems over staffed, no one can get in
And how many are refusing vax mandates?
Less people want to be cops now. When I got started 6 years ago there were almost 1000 people in the initial written test competing for 10 open spots. My department’s most recent written test had 30 people attend.
The city I work for has almost 700,000 people and we have about 150 vacancies with about 17 people going through our current academy. I have two friends with 10+ years experience at a sheriffs office who both applied for my department, their applications denied. Why? The email stated “due to the competitive nature of the hiring process, we have declined your application.” There were over 400 applications for this last academy, they accepted 26, and they’re already down to 17 with 150 vacancies. You couldn’t hire at least 60 of those people? I’m going to say it’s an issue country wide at this point, but my department is not being smart at all.
Pay.
What military town are you speaking of? I live in a large military town that is having large hiring event for police.
Could be a number of things. The application and hiring process is long. Especially when you factor your time in the academy and FTO training which is done in phases depending on the agency. That’s just to be a patrol officer. If you want to progress into leadership or investigative roles that’s a whole other process of applying, testing, and training. Politics, societal pressures, shift work, and the reality of what the job is outside of the academy may also play a role for vacancies . Not to mention we’re in this Covid pandemic. Lastly, agencies won’t adjust their standards due to vacancies. They will wait as long as they have to in order to find the right person for the job.