Where's the cops when you need them??

Question

Are all agencies low on staffing? What seems to be the problem and why is it so hard to find successful candidates.

Answer 1

If you want to help the cause why don't you bite the bullet and become a cop yourself?

Answer 2

Check your local Dunkin Donuts! Im just kidding...Its a very dangerous job and I'm sure as time goes by there is going to be a greater need for cops  

Answer 3

No agency in my area is low on staffing but most of them are so mismanaged that very few officers are out on the street where they belong.

Many agencies have officers assigned to desk jobs doing the work of clerks and secretaries.  

Answer 4

On another detail.

Take a number and wait unless emergency that take priority.

The problem is people do not want to get involved. Don't want your job.

Local police dept here 12 officers down, local prison 42 down.

So ya all go figure.

Nobody wants to do the job anymore, so is the price of hiring blue collar workers, as police, going to go up to get applicants to buy into working?

Before retiring in 2007, I woked the last four years 16 hours a day, 6 days a week. Department said we could only work 3 16's and then had to work 2 8's before another 16 so we all working 15 hours a day now..

Average salary is 26,000 starting to 49,000 in 10 years. Starting pay at McDonalds in Management is 35,000?

Average officer last year with overtime was making 39,000 to 102,000.

Answer 5

Money talks

Answer 6

O.K. a serious answer to your question finally.  My husband has been a cop for 12 years and the only honest answer I can think of is it has to be something you really desire because the pay is not nearly enough for what you guys do on a day to day basis and your average Joe doesn't want to take that risk!  Another note, most of the population who could do it are criminals whether they get caught or not (smoking pot and such) so they would never qualify for the job!   Being a police officer is something not bred into every person and personally I'm glad about that!  It takes someone special to put on a vest and a gun and spend all day (or night) in a thankless job for peanuts!

Answer 7

Now that 9/11 is out of people's thoughts, kids just don't want to step up for a job that for the most part doesn't pay that well and is dangerous.

Also many people aren't raising their kids to be active when they see a wrong doing, so they don't carry that into adulthood.

Yes, it is a real problem that our agencies can't get decent applicants to join the departments. They are either forced to run the department on low staffing, which puts tired cops on the street, or they have to put in under-qualified applicants that are a nuisance on the street and puts civilian and cop lives at risk.

At this time my husbands department is running under-staffed in patrol and dispatchers. Good for over-time, terrible for sleep.

Answer 8

Police organizations have finally admitted they can not protect people. They barely can protect society as a whole. Remenber if you have to call the Police, it is generally too late. During Hurricane Ktrina was a perfect example, where the police could not meet their mission.

Answer 9

people don't want to be shot...and the only people who do, tend to be the "dirty" cops who tend to bend the rules.