San Diego Needs Police - Independently Wealthy Police
Have you ever dreamed of a life in law enforcement? Would you like to live in San Diego? There’s no better time to combine these two goals than now, if you can afford it.
The city of San Diego is very short on law enforcement officers, and actively recruiting. Fully staffed, the San Diego Police Department employs 2,108 officers. As of December, the department was 214 officers short. In January, the figure rose to 222.
NBC 7/39 reported in early March that more than a dozen investigators were taking new jobs at the district attorney’s office, with four more to follow in April. According to the San Diego Police Officer’s Association, about 40 detectives have left the department for higher paying jobs.
Why is this happening?
That might best be answered by a commercial produced by the San Diego Police Officers Association in 2006. This commercial claimed that it was low pay that was to blame for the police exodus.
The situation does not seem to have improved since the video was produced. A salary survey commissioned by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, (conducted by Buck Consultants) came out in December determining that take home pay for city police is at or near the bottom when compared with 18 other law enforcement agencies in California and Arizona.
According to the survey, take home pay for an entry-level officer in San Diego with no dependents ranges from $39,806 to $48,037. Median pay for similar officers at the agencies surveyed ranges from $48,826 to $64,318.
Furthermore, San Diego police have gone without a raise for the last two years.
What does this mean to San Diego’s crime rates?
These staffing shortages have created bigger case loads for detectives, fewer police on the streets, and longer response times for some 911 calls.
Amidst this law enforcement shortage, crime rates have continued to drop dramatically from their highs peaking in the early 1990’s. According to FBI crime statistics, San Diego remains the fourth safest large city in the United States.
Aren’t there people willing to take less pay to live in San Diego?
You might say it’s worth taking a job for less pay to live in a paradise like San Diego. The problem is - where can you live? You’d need a pretty hefty paycheck (usually two) to buy a home anywhere in San Diego county today. In fact, the Center for Housing Policy ranks San Diego as the tenth least affordable Metropolitan area.
Even if police officers were willing to work for less, they would need to find affordable housing in order to do so.
What’s the city doing about it?
Mayor Sanders announced a plan to stop the police officers from leaving San Diego last July. It included the comprehensive salary and benefits study that was completed in December.
The mayor also went on television at that time to plead for patience and loyalty.
The plan also proposed spending about $250,000 to recruit new officers to the police force.
Today, the situation has not improved, and there does not seem to be any additional plan in place that will fill the open positions or retain experienced officers.
Law Enforcement Officers Sought at Job Fair
This weekend, the University of Phoenix will conduct a career fair from 9am to noon at it’s Kearny Mesa Learning Center. Companies such as National City Police Department, California Highway Patrol, U.S. Naval Criminal Intelligence Service and U.S. Border Patrol will be among employers present. It looks like SDPD isn’t the only organization looking for law enforcement officers, even within San Diego County.
Unless someone comes along with a visionary plan to provide inexpensive housing to San Diego police officers, or money for raises and benefits, the future of law enforcement in the city of San Diego looks bleak.
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1 opinion for San Diego Needs Police - Independently Wealthy Police
The San Diego Beat » Housing for Fire, Police and Military Personnel
Jun 4, 2007 at 12:37 pm
[...] noted in an earlier article, San Diego is in serious need of police officers. Unfortunately, housing costs can make [...]
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