Police Staffing issues are no mystery.

????????Law Enforcement agencies across the country are facing shortages in staffing. My old agency of 120+ is currently around 30 officers short. A major city by me is over 120 officers short (approximately an 800-officer agency). An agency around the world’s most famous beach is around 50 officers short (slated for around 250 full time). This is only a tiny sample of Florida agencies, but the same picture is in every state. This is a crisis for communities, officers retiring or just leaving agencies at an unprecedented rate. Of course, there are exceptions – agencies that are OK and are maintaining staffing, as well as recruiting.?What is the cause of all of this? No leadership focus in training supervision, staff that have management, but no leadership abilities, focus on catering to the public opinion instead of honesty, Chiefs making sure their cushy salaries are intact (with their previous retirement checks), forgetting that we are NOT “customer” based. We handle problems that people cannot handle on their own. Staffing problems at large agencies can be handled overnight – STOP responding to every call, yet the chiefs know that there would be a tumultuous period and they don’t want to deal with it. The problem starts with our own. The public demonstrations and protests/riots are only a small problem. You cannot be successful when your own administration shows more support for rioters by kneeling with them and ordering officers to do the same. So much for treating everyone equal under the constitution and law. The Chiefs that did this can justify it anyway. The truth is they failed their community and picked a side. They failed to protect everyone equally and catered to the news media and violence of a group. How does this become so?

???????????????First, we have to understand how we got here and that it should be no surprise.?We have brought it on ourselves. My generation of would-be chiefs and sheriffs fell into the “must have a degree” hole. I watched those with great ambitions sell out their fellow officers when they were in patrol. They hid and put themselves “out” as “busy” while working on their papers for their “online” college degree.?The same ones made sure they capitalized on any call they showed up on, seeking recognition from the administration. This made sure they were moved out of “patrol” into a normal weekly schedule, which allowed them admin “face” time and more time to finish that degree and maybe even get a master's degree. The workload for the officers doing their jobs increased, but admin responded with “you are fully staffed”.?No matter what as a Shift or Watch Commander/ Sergeant did they were/are powerless because you can’t “focus” on the officer “getting an education”. The officer doing his/her degree knew they could escape work by countering about their education to their friends in admin.

???????????????The Patrol Sergeants and officers that actually worked were/are very needed to do the work but scoffed at in the “higher admin” circle. The one or two officers that are self-serving on the shift and focused on just moving up start destroying the morale with lack of action and pushing workloads on others through their ability to “dodge calls” and work. Morale starts falling on the shift and that “guy” (or gal) is not welcome as a “foot soldier”, but they become management. They manage sections or divisions by “the book”, disregarding people. But hey- “We” in this industry demanded education and those that got it were/ are rewarded. They moved up in the ranks and practiced “management”.?Those of us old enough- we remember that all were told “Law Enforcement needs to be run like a business. To act more businesslike to customers”. Another arrow through the heart of the career. But wait- there’s more. Our own “industry” turned on those that do the work, and some started to realize there is a bigger scam available. One that can strip agencies of precious dollars. Of course, the upside is that Chiefs of Police can all join forces and have their own “Mason” group. Let’s talk the accreditation scam.

???????????????Accreditation is a great scheme that was concocted in the 1970’s in Oklahoma by an unofficial union called “International Association of Chiefs of Police” (IACP). They thought that they could standardize Law Enforcement, you know do the same thing in Florida as in New York (see the problem?). In essence the program has agencies create Policies and Procedures (which are good) and abide by their own standards. So, Police Department Chiefs spend THOUSANDS of dollars to meet the “standards” of accreditation and get a sticker on you police cars. Do you know who benefits? Yep, the Chief of Police that in in power when they “earn” that title. Of course, the agency inspection for other chiefs to come in and read your policies and make sure you are disciplining officers' costs $35,000 (ish) just for the inspection. If your agency fails to meet the standards, you get re-inspected for another $35,000 (ish). Of course, cost depends on a variety of factors. In the buildup to the inspection – the chief and his/her entourage will run around demanding obedience and disciplining officers for the smallest violation of policy.?I have talked to several of my friends nationwide and the story is always the same. Policy and Procedures are meant to guide you in your job. They should never be “always, never, must” because our industry (I use the term loosely) does not deal in building widgets. People call us to handle problems that they are not capable of. Police Departments and Sheriff Offices have also created this. Agencies are self-insured (so no insurance breaks), you don’t get any priority for grants and you as an agency get no benefit from it. So Why don’t Chief’s demand professionalism from the beginning? Because there is no special club without this.

???????????????Responding to every call, no matter how big or small. Alan Brunicini (a fire chief) set the path to destruction in Public Safety by trying to “justify” us all. There is a choice. If the community does not want a Police Department- they don’t have to pay for it. We are an insurance policy- you never make money on an insurance policy; you pay for protection. Until the public is truly educated and Management embraces leadership, the problem will continue to get worse. You cannot demand men and women risk lives, run themselves ragged, get treated like garbage by their agency, disciplined for every minor thing, inflexible policies, and always believing the public over your own officers without facts or proof – the stew is well mixed and tastes horrible. When I went to Command Officers Development Course, they told us to "always protect the agency and "city" no matter what. I asked a question about the officers and the instructor laughed and basically said that officers are disposable. After that course I took a good look at different departments and listened to my friends in the job- yep, officers are disposable in the eyes of the administration. Unless of course, you meet a certain need......When agencies lower standards instead of taking an internal look and listening you will continue to see “thugs” become Law Enforcement. There are many more problems than this and it has been coming for the last 20 years. I personally, do not see how it can be corrected. The chiefs and sheriffs are not willing to do what it will take to correct it. They love themselves too much to put themselves at risk. Of course, this is my opinion and those that I know in the business have similar feelings.

???????????????Here is a simple problem- How do you RETAIN an officer that has been disciplined (2 days off) for taking a seatbelt off before putting a car in park (true story, not me) when he or she has been a good officer, making arrests, doing the job and not in trouble in the past? How do you tell other officers that “you” will get disciplined, but it will just be part of the job? Then you want them to recruit people (that we have told get a degree) to work shift work, holidays, mostly nights, every other weekend, lose days off for training and court (but then be back to work on time) and you don’t get to take vacation because we are “short”. Oh wait- you also have to work at least X overtime shifts a month, but you can work off duty details. All of this can be yours for $52,000 to start, you do get a retirement pension after 30 years though. Meanwhile, experienced officers are bailing as fast as they can for non-Law Enforcement jobs that pay better and have a better lifestyle. One start to fix it is to stop hiring “friends of friends” as Chiefs and hire leaders that became managers, folks that think outside the normal. The idea of Public Safety is a business has made Chief's of Police into Store Managers. Sorry folks in our business the "customer" is not always right.