'Shrinking Police Forces Can Exact Costs on Communities' & Retailers
2022 Resignations Up 47% & Retirements Up 19% Over
2019
Even at $112,000 starting pay, fewer people want to be San Francisco cops
The path to one of the most lucrative entry-level jobs in US law enforcement
begins at a squat police academy nestled on a residential street in San
Francisco. Enrollment has been plunging.
The academy graduated 26 officers last year, the lowest tally in at least a
decade and less than a third of the 2019 total. While this year’s group is
likely to be bigger, only a half dozen recruits on a recent day were hammering
their batons on practice bags, rehearsing jiu-jitsu-like techniques and
wrestling each other to the ground in a gym adorned with a large American flag.
The
scarcity underscores a major problem for San Francisco, but one that’s also
plaguing cities and towns across the US. San Francisco beefed up efforts
this month to reverse the slide by lifting the starting
pay for officers with no experience to $112,398 — the highest for rookie
cops in big US cities, nearly double the level in New York City and more
than what many US Secret Service agents earn.
To some extent, San Francisco is a special case. Its pricey housing market means
high salaries don’t go as far. It’s also known as a progressive bastion, and
negative views of the police repel some would-be cops. But a recent backlash on
public safety has taken shape, including the recall of a liberal district
attorney in 2022, and local leaders are increasingly backing the blue.
Whatever San Francisco’s idiosyncrasies, plenty of other US towns, cities and
states are contending with similar challenges in finding officers. The
Dallas Police Department set up recruitment billboards in Chicago. Florida
Governor Ron DeSantis approved bonuses of $5,000 for police willing to relocate
from other states. Ithaca, New York, has offered a $20,000 signing bonus for
lateral hires.
Arcata started dangling $50,000 bonuses to prospective new hires as a
result. Alameda, just south of Oakland, offers $113,654 a year — more
than San Francisco itself. Alameda is also offering a $75,000 signing bonus,
the highest in the country, although officers have to pay back part of the sum
if they leave the force in less than five years.
Staffing at US police departments fell almost 5% during the three years
ending in January 2023, according to the Police Executive Research Forum, a
policy group in Washington that conducted a survey of 182 law enforcement
agencies. Much of the decline has been driven by officers quitting or aging out
of the workforce. Resignations in 2022 were 47% higher than their 2019 level,
while retirements rose 19%.
The cross-country rush to replace those officers reflects a broader shift in
attitudes toward policing. Perhaps most dramatically, the murder of
George Floyd in 2020 spotlighted police brutality and damaged trust in cops.
Public scrutiny increased, complicating the efforts of police forces to attract
candidates to jobs that are already known for long hours and the ever-present
threat of grave physical danger. An instructor at San Francisco’s police academy
said the training for recruits is geared toward “the worst day of their life”
since they’re likely to be in situations in which violence erupts.
Adding personnel doesn’t always translate to better policing, of course. The
effectiveness of police officers depends on how they’re trained, as well as on
leadership decisions about priorities and resource allocation. More staffing in
lousy police departments won’t necessarily help the public – and it might hurt.
But shrinking police forces can exact costs on communities, said Ben
Struhl, executive director of the Crime and Justice Policy Lab at the University
of Pennsylvania.
For example, effective strategies that reduce violent crime without
causing a surge in arrests are often put on the back burner when a department is
struggling to meet basic emergency response needs.
“Without police in the first place, it’s really hard for police to be
strategic,” he said.
mercurynews.com
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