People are quitting everywhere in nearly every profession, but I can’t see what you named as the lone reason as why folks are not applying to be cops. I’m sure it’s a combo of a few things, especially the current political climate in many places where the cop is always wrong.Originally Posted by TGS
#RESIST
"We want competent, compassionate, intelligent, knowledgeable, honest, courageous career cops. We also want them to be undertrained, underfunded, underpaid, understaffed, underequipped, derided, and maximally vulnerable at all times to ruinous litigation."
I didn't say it was the lone reason as to why LE is having recruitment and retention issues.
Yeah, it all wraps up together. Back in the day, a recruit/new officer "bought into" a system with being the lowest on the totem pole. He would get the shit details/assignments, and work his way up as was mentioned. You also bought into a system that protected you to do your job effectively. You bought into a system where your rigid rules gave a sense of community, identity, and pride. Your progression from shit assignments to choice hours or choice details is something you could look at as a goal, and humans thrive on goals and ladders of progression. Comparative to other jobs on the market, the bennies also were pretty good....after putting in your time, you generally only had to work 3-4 shifts a week and would get time-off when you wanted, OT as you needed, etc.
Today, what does the average new hire buy into? What do they get in exchange for working shit hours with no end in sight, with a bunch of people who are miserable and either are just trying to hide until retirement or want to actively drag you down into their misery? They get to work their way into a special assignment where you work for 5 days a week and then have to show up to work to do patrol on your days off, or even change uniforms at the end of your plainclothes unit shift to work a patrol shift. Everything that was good about "buying into" that system has disappeared.
Like BBI's alluded to: People who can do better, do better. What's not helping is having a bunch of people running police departments and/or pushing a culture of "fuck you newbie, earn your way" when it's not possible for you to actually "earn" anything in return for sticking around...those are just miserable cunts that are trying to make you miserable too, because they feed on it.
ETA: Just to be clear, bad management practices make people leave jobs...and even within the realm of LE, people leave jobs in droves due to bad management even when not due to a liability-driven nature like patrol cops have to deal with: https://www.globalgovernmentforum.co...rk-spying-row/
The typical response from management types in the last few years is derision of the employees. That's not working out very well for management, as people who can do better will do better.
Last edited by TGS; 06-06-2022 at 01:53 PM.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
I see management in denial about recruitment and retention. I thought I had tapped into a pool of unhappy DC area cops who still wanted to do police work in a court system that let them work. They were used to working 12 hours shift and enjoyed the extra days off. We were offering 5-8's. The potential new guys would transfer for a 4-10 shift. Management decided that if they were that worried about schedule, we didn't want them. I see shift/schedule as hugely impactful on work-life-balance and an easy concession for us. I was not supported.
- It's not the odds, it's the stakes.
- If you aren't dry practicing every week, you're not serious.....
- "Tache-Psyche Effect - a polite way of saying 'You suck.' " - GG
USPP officers can transfer to your agency without doing a new academy, right? Too bad that didn’t work out.
It's hard to think positive or be excited about your job when your employer or political structure wants to fire you or even imprison you for simply doing your job.
Another morale booster implemented by the fascist in charge of my former agency was his decision to allow laterals to take promotional tests. One former lieutenant at an adjacent county sheriff's office vaulted directly to lieutenant while a former sergeant from the same agency achieved his old rank in about a year. I've never met the guy, but I doubt he could possibly be that familiar with the reporting system, arrest procedures, or even how to get around the city without Google maps or a dri
Add to this is the perception among the troops that management will start an internal investigation on them if they learn an officer is looking elsewhere. On a couple of occasions, the chief demanded suspensions that would last longer than a retiring or resigning officer's planned departure from the agency. He became apoplectic when informed that would be impossible. In some good news, one larger county police department held a position open for the internal to be completed. Another officer famously used his three week suspension to apply for the agency where he'd attended the academy and which wanted him anyway. He never wore our uniform again and is an apparent rock star at his new department.
The handwriting is on the wall for officers sitting stagnant in officer or corporal positions.
Last edited by jnc36rcpd; 06-06-2022 at 06:27 PM.
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.
They can. IIRC we even waive field training and just do an area orientation. We have worked 4-10’s before and backed off when we had vacancies these guys would have filled.
I did the coverage analysis and found that it reduced coverage by 3%. I’d take a 5% reduction to have competent, proven, proactive officers. That’s also why I’m not management material.
- It's not the odds, it's the stakes.
- If you aren't dry practicing every week, you're not serious.....
- "Tache-Psyche Effect - a polite way of saying 'You suck.' " - GG
A lot more good cops are going to leave for 1811 jobs. It’s great for us, but the fact that we’re out there in the shadows (the shadows cast by mounds of paperwork) pursuing fraud/counterintel/conspiracy/etc. cases really doesn’t do much for the communities that really need a quick and capable response when they call 911.
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