Department exodus articles

[Nephrology]

This is about 400 sworn in a city where the crime rate is stupid low and citizen support is high. No BLM protests to speak of, no officers fired or indicted for OIS. If they have to change to get new hires, it's a fucking bad sign.

I am not in law enforcement but in medicine there is a lot of cynicism, burnout, and turnover in medicine that seems to follow a similar trend. two general themes that seem to jump out to me are a) A shitty job getting shittier and b) a generational attitude skewed towards personal reward ("lifestyle") vs a sense of obligation to the service of the public

Not certain if these trends apply in LE but it is interesting to read this conversation and notice parallels

[Totem Polar]

I am not in law enforcement but in medicine there is a lot of cynicism, burnout, and turnover in medicine that seems to follow a similar trend. two general themes that seem to jump out to me are a) A shitty job getting shittier and b) a generational attitude skewed towards personal reward ("lifestyle") vs a sense of obligation to the service of the public

Not certain if these trends apply in LE but it is interesting to read this conversation and notice parallels

I’m pretty sure that there are parallels in many lines of work. LE just happens to be a super-obvious example. Stevie Wonder could see what’s going on in local LE.

[whomever]

From the OP: "Consequently, the SPD stopped assigning adult sexual assault cases to detectives. As alarming, SPD’s Special Assault and Child Abuse Unit went from 12 detectives three years ago to just four."

Article with more details: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...al-memo-shows/

The Powers That Be dispute that they are ignoring adult sex assaults, but my amateur reading between the lines makes me think the article is largely true.

Now, my political prognostications are usually about as accurate as those from pundits who do that for a living, i.e. 'Not Very', but still ... when someone's wife/aunt/adult daughter gets raped and the police don't have the time to investigate ... that's not viable. People will grumble year after year about potholes, but they just won't stand for rapes. Or when we lived in Seattle and were burgled, the responding officer was clear that nothing was going to happen other than the report getting filed. OK, I get it, my fellow taxpayers don't want to fund a team of detectives moving heaven and earth to find the guy who took our VCR. But your wife gets raped and there is no followup ... I just don't think that's going to be politically acceptable, even in Seattle.

[willie]

It’s happening around here as well. Departments close to me are having to pull School Resource Officers and Detectives out of their special assignments so they can staff patrol.

Hey Lon, same thing in my area. Today a police recruiter called me. I might apply. The local funeral home turned me down as a casket model. They said I looked like I was dead.

[BigDaddy]

I suppose I'm a part of the exodus. I loved my job in local LE up until the 2020 shenanigans post-George Floyd. I was a cop 4 days a week and a national guardsman 4 or 5 days a month. When I was out and about in the community wearing a military uniform, people smiled when they looked at me, thanked me for my service, offered to buy me lunch, etc. When I wore my police uniform, people looked at me like I was the grim reaper. The contrast was always there, but in 2020 it hit an extreme. It ultimately wasn't worth dealing with the low pay, crap retirement, midnight callouts, friend's funeral, and useless county attorney.

I left for a federal agency that most people have never heard of. I work cases that don't involve crowds of people screaming and filming me with their cell phones. The pay and retirement are double what I had at the PD. I rarely get called out to crime scenes after hours. The grass was definitely greener in my case.

I was privileged to work with and supervised some outstanding Police Officers. I remember thinking that the community which they serve really doesn't deserve them or the quality of service they provide.

[willie]

I am not in law enforcement but in medicine there is a lot of cynicism, burnout, and turnover in medicine that seems to follow a similar trend. two general themes that seem to jump out to me are a) A shitty job getting shittier and b) a generational attitude skewed towards personal reward ("lifestyle") vs a sense of obligation to the service of the public

Not certain if these trends apply in LE but it is interesting to read this conversation and notice parallels

I agree. In corporate medicine there are fewer docs who hit the grown running everyday. My provider is a giant which can be compared with Walmart. Corporate officials dictate policies. There is a top down administration giving small voice to employees. Corporate culture and the atmosphere that it projects is a source of fatigue and burnout. Having to treat hordes of non compliant patients also affects physicians. Family practice docs have this burden perhaps more than others.

[Erick Gelhaus]

On the topic of background failures, I've heard through Ye Olde Rumor Mill that the #1 thing kicking people out of the process now is *drum roll* ...... jerking off at work. Apparently the excuse given is 'stress relief' for the why of it. I'm not sure when they started asking about work-jerks, but apparently it's failing more people then drug use now.

I wouldn't blame the shrinks or the polygraphers.

05/12/2022

https://www.ktvu.com/news/san-jose-p...bance-call-d-a

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A San Jose police officer faces indecent exposure charges for allegedly masturbating at a family's home while responding to a disturbance call last month, officials say.

[LHS]

I agree. In corporate medicine there are fewer docs who hit the grown running everyday. My provider is a giant which can be compared with Walmart. Corporate officials dictate policies. There is a top down administration giving small voice to employees. Corporate culture and the atmosphere that it projects is a source of fatigue and burnout. Having to treat hordes of non compliant patients also affects physicians. Family practice docs have this burden perhaps more than others.

I see that every day in my day job (big corporate IT). Decisions being made by people with no clue about the actual technology or situation on the ground, leading to smart professionals calling it quits or just giving up and doing bare minimum to skate by. It's pretty demoralizing.

[rcbusmc24]

Well.... I just submitted a application to the Charlotte Mecklenburg PD. I'm a retired Marine infantry Gunnery Sgt with a 90 percent VA rating but I can still do the job... so I think. Probably a bad idea but I still want to do things for others, and for some stupid reason they won't let me be in the NC National Guard and still collect my retirement pay and VA benefits which is just stupid if you think about it for a minute... I like to think I'd be the best infantry rifleman the National Guard could ever get....I really just want to do infantry shit with the boys again... I miss it...

[jnc36rcpd]

Abandon hope all ye who enter here, rcbsusmc24. Good luck in the process, I'd do the same thing if I could because I really have no common sense. Of course, when I was a kid, the only career I considered other than being a cop was the Marine Corps so I guess we have that going on.

I know you'll miss the Corps and are disappointed you can't continue grunt work with the Guard, but you can still make a contribution. You've been around here (and the world) long enough to know the differences between policing and the infantry. Good luck, be safe, and keep us in the loop.