04-24-2023 CC - Laserfiche WebLink

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• Pierce County (Washington) Sheriff's Office - Short 50 deputies, $10,000 retention bonus for each deputy; Offers a $15,000 lateral transfer bonus for current officers and deputies • Los Angeles Police Department - Housing for Hires program - $24,000 housing subsidy for 24 months Why a new, permanent solution is vital to public safety The current strategies being utilized for recruitment and retention are failing. Failing to achieve proper staffing negatively impacts budgets, officer morale, training, health, officer and community safety, community and police relationships, and retention. The rising lateral officer movement does not solve the problem, as it negatively impacts one community. The problem is the diminishing interest in the profession for current officers and the lack of interest in the profession in the next generations. We need to retain our officers and the trust they have developed within their communities. We need to become a destination state for attracting talented, diverse, new officers. Minnesota state education requirements for peace officers needs to be met with an appropriate job benefit that matches the time, effort, commitment, and financial burden of obtaining a degree. People are not moving to Minnesota to become officers, they are likely leaving to pursue this profession, if interested. We need to retain our current officers and the trust they have developed within their communities. We need to attract the next generation, especially non- traditional and minority populations to this profession. We need a comprehensive, equitable, approach to recruitment and retention, that ensures all agencies are retaining and attracting quality officers to serve their communities — not just the most affluent. We need to rebrand the profession as one that is a supported. We need to decrease the professional stigma against receiving health care — physical and mental. Law Enforcement cannot compete with private sector perks and realities of little stress, safety, flexible schedules, and remote work. Smaller departments cannot compete with the financial incentives being offered by the larger departments. Small to mid -size departments will fold and relationships between police and the community will suffer, and crime will increase. Trusted officers, with a history of professional service to their communities and building relationships are leaving the profession. Officers are being lured by financial incentives, instead of a commitment to service and professional values of the agency that aligns with their own moral compass. Agencies are being pitted against each other as they all fight for the same depleted, nearly obsolete, applicant pool. The daily demands and responsibilities of police officers are harder and more stressful than ever. The demands and stressors compound when there are fewer people to fulfill the demands. The ones that are here work harder and harder to try to meet them. Eventually that will lead to burnout, compassion fatigue, unhappiness, health issues, and resignations. In a paper on the deterrence of crime in the 21 st century, Nagin (2013) asserted that "the certainty of being caught is a vastly more powerful deterrent than the punishment"