Police Dept. Works to Prevent Officer Shortage

By Tom Pendergast

Boomers are retiring, so the top brass at the SF Police Department (SFPD) and other departments throughout the state are perspiring, as their agencies have to actively recruit more officers.

Across the state, police departments are competing for officers by recruiting from other departments, military bases and by offering cash bonuses. In the next four years, roughly a third of the Police Department will start collecting pensions, which no doubt troubles some at police headquarters at 850 Bryant St. since the city Charter says they have to provide a minimum level of police officers.

In 1994, San Francisco voters placed a mandate in the Charter requiring the police department to provide a minimum of 1,971 "full-duty sworn officers," yet the SFPD is now understaffed by at least 150 officers.

"That's absolutely a violation of the charter," said Inspector Gary Delagnes, president of the SF Police Officer's Association (POA).

The number 1,971 goes back to former Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who collaborated with SFPD brass to arrive at an amount that the City could afford in 1979. The number was decided before the full effects of Proposition 13 hit municipal budgets, or the ailing economies of the early '90s and the years following Sept. 11, 2001.

The office of the city controller says the understaffing is a temporary situation because graduates of current cadet classes at the police academy should put it above the required minimum within the year.

But Delagnes says the City is way behind in its hiring program.

In 2004, voters passed Proposition C, which directed the department to replace officers at desk jobs and to fill them with civilians for less money. The plan was to put those officers on patrol assignments.

The recently-passed city budget - at $6.06 billion the largest in city history - has pushed the "civilianized" positions since Prop. C passed up to 97, driving the total number of required full-duty sworn officers on duty down to 1,874.

Although on paper it appears the SFPD is funded to employ more than 2,100 officers, the city controller's office says 421 positions are not "full-duty" because they are either investigators and assistants, administration and modified duty employees, temporarily disabled or on leave of absence.

Boomers Retiring
As the police department struggles to comply with the city Charter, looming on the horizon is the expected retirement of about a third of the force during the next few years.

"They're expecting 600 to 650 retirements over the next four years. So we've got quite a challenge before us," said Dr. Bruce Topp, assistant deputy director at the SF Department of Human Resources (SFDHR). "That's retirements only, so that doesn't count other separations like disability, death and people leaving for other departments ... so, the next few years are going to be extremely busy with hiring."

Delagnes has his own estimate, which includes those uncounted "separations." He projected that in the next "five or six years" the SFPD might lose anywhere from 800 to 1,100 officers.

With an attrition rate of 30 to 40 percent, Delagnes said the academy can only be expected to produce an average of 160 to 170 officers per year, assuming the funding for five classes each year continues. Another assumption is that there will be enough qualified candidates available.

Across the nation, the labor pool for police officers is shrinking as more agencies than ever are dipping their buckets into it.

"There are a couple of different currents coming together right now," said Jeremy Wilson, associate director of the Rand Center for Quality Policing. "It's a complicated situation because there are a number of factors and issues involved."

Aside from the fact that many departments are top-heavy with soon-to-be-retiring boomers, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq "siphons people off," Wilson explained.

Many other agencies, like Homeland Security, FBI and the CIA, are trying to beef up their numbers as well.

"Historically, police departments like to recruit people from the military. But a lot of people being called up creates a drain. There's also increased competition between private security companies and law enforcement."

This is giving recruits more options than ever, but at the same time demands on law enforcement officers are increasing.

"At the same time, officers are being asked for more intelligence gathering and counter-terrorism responsibilities since 9-1-1, plus there are emerging crimes, like cyber crimes and human trafficking," said Wilson. "These type of investigations are time consuming and take more resources. The responsibilities of police are evolving and expanding. (In response to the labor shortage) some agencies have been adjusting their standards, but that's a slippery slope because once that starts it can lead to some very negative things. Most people would rather have fewer qualified officers than a lot who are not qualified."

Pay Raise for San Francisco Officers
The new city budget included an across-the-board pay increase of 25 percent, about six percent a year over the next four years, for all SF police officers.

Before the pay raise, Micki Callahan, employee relations director at the SFDHR, compared SFPD salaries to the surrounding 10 Bay Area cities and found the department's maximum base pay was less than Berkeley, Santa Clara, San Jose and Vallejo.

"The raises that we agreed to only begin to close the gap," said Callahan, observing that San Jose is expected to increase pay for their officers in January. "Recruitment and retention is absolutely an issue."

Statewide, the competition only gets more intense. San Diego police personnel just got an across-the-board raise and are looking to fill about 200 positions.

San Jose, which has one of the lowest per-capita staff of officers in the state, will be looking to hire 60 more in January, said Lt. Dale Morgan of that department. He also mentioned he had seen recruiting advertisements on buses in that city for both the San Francisco and Oakland police departments.

Oakland Police Department Sgt. Dom Arotzarena said his agency is short 70 officers and is sending recruiters out to military bases as far away as San Diego and Seattle.

Commander Jim Cansler of the LAPD said his agency has a goal of hiring about 1,000 new officers by 2010.

"We're at a seven percent vacancy rate right now," he said. "We're offering a number of bonuses."

Like a $2,500 bonus when a new recruit graduates the LAPD academy, with an additional $2,500 after their probation period ends. Experienced police officers coming in get double that amount, with an abbreviated academy training. Additionally, current LAPD employees can make $500 for recruiting a candidate that makes it through the academy and an additional $500 when the officer completes probation.

"We've had a major turnover and with everybody competing for officers, that's why we have to do this," Cansler said.

Not Everyone Agrees
In July, the SF Police Department agreed to increase community policing by adding beat officers in some police districts, including the Tenderloin, Southern, Central and Mission stations.

But in San Francisco there are some who question if putting so much money into hiring cops is really the best use of tax dollars.

Karl Kramer, campaign co-director for the SF Living Wage Coalition, said hiring police but not adequately funding crime prevention measures - like after-school programs, counseling and job training for at-risk youth - is a sign of misplaced priorities at City Hall. Such programs, he said, can steer a significant number of youth away from criminal activities in the first place.

"(Hiring more officers) becomes a vicious cycle. It doesn't get at the root causes of crime," said Kramer. "The city is putting the priority on a police response to violence rather than preventing violence. It's about locking these young people up and forgetting the consequences of what these young people's lives are going to be like after they're released."

Journalist Tom Pendergast wrote this story for members of the San Francisco Neighborhood Newspaper Association.