To enforce law, more than few good men and women needed

Agencies in the bay area and nationwide are experiencing a drop in the number of people who want to become officers.

By JANE MEINHARDT

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 6, 2000

A help wanted banner hangs from the fence at the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office headquarters.

Clearwater police Chief Sid Klein gives a day off with pay to any officer for a referral of someone who is hired by the department.

Up to $30,000 in college or university tuition reimbursement is available for some Tampa police recruits.

These are among the ways area law enforcement agencies are trying to cope with an emerging trend: a shortage of qualified officers. The strong economy and cultural changes are to blame, agencies say.

To keep and recruit people, Largo gave its officers a $3,500 across-the-board raise last October. Their pay will increase 5 percent in October.

A Largo officer's pay now ranges from $29,000 to $45,000, and the pay increase has helped Largo police fill 18 vacancies, said acting Chief Judy Gershkowitz.

"We try to recruit from the community, but it's difficult to keep a candidate pool," Gershkowitz said. "We went to different universities around Florida, and now we're going to other states. We're running ads. "It's hard to compete when someone can step out of college into a computer-related job for $50,000. It's a "What's in it for me?' philosophy now."

Chuck Harmon, St. Petersburg assistant police chief, agreed.

"In good economic times, it's tough for law enforcement to fill vacancies," Harmon said."It's real hard to match private industry's ability to compensate."

Although the number fluctuates almost daily, the department had 20 vacancies as of Monday. Department recruiters now have monthly instead of quarterly hiring meetings, offer job fairs, advertise on the Internet and recruit at military bases and universities.

St. Petersburg also reimburses recruits for the cost of the police academy in return for a three-year commitment. Successful recruitment incentives are crucial to finding good candidates now, Harmon said.

"Society has changed, and the type of candidates has changed with the changes in society," he said. "You either love to do this work, or it's something you wouldn't do in your wildest dreams."

Tampa Bay area law enforcement agencies are not alone in the quest for officers. Agencies nationwide are experiencing a drop in the number of people who want to be officers.

According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the New York Police Department received about 38,500 applications in 1993. That has dropped to 5,800 applications this year. The number of potential recruits in Chicago fell from about 25,000 in 1993 to 1,900 this year.

With 14 deputy vacancies coming up, Sheriff Everett Rice is looking to fill the slots withexperienced officers to avoid delays and the cost of the police academy. The 20-week academy costs $1,100 for each recruit.

To attract deputies, he has changed hiring policies and is offering more money.

"If you have some experience, we will negotiate your starting pay up to the pay for a five-year deputy," Rice said. "We've had to do that to find good candidates."

A starting Pinellas deputy's base pay is $28,518. A five-year deputy's base pay is $30,518.

The Tampa Police Department has 19 vacancies, said Cpl. Jill Ramsten, but she expects 16 of them to be eventually filled by people the department is putting through the police academy.

The agency also has five candidates in the federally funded Florida Police Corps program, a six-month residential academy in Jacksonville. For a qualified college graduate, the program reimburses up to $30,000for tuition.

In addition, the Tampa department offers pay incentives similar to those in Rice's program. Florida-certified officers with five years' experience could receive starting pay of $36,254, the third level of pay for Tampa officers.

Ramsten said the department is also participating in a job fair in Atlanta and paying bus transportation for students from nearby colleges there.

"We're doing some new and different things to reach out and process people," Ramsten said. "The job market is so tight. It used to be people looked at civil service as nice and secure. People don't care about that anymore."

So far, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has escaped the recruiting problems affecting other agencies, said Cpl. Marsha DeWeese. With an authorized strength of 1,037 deputies, the agency has only seven vacancies -- and enough applicants to fill them.

"We've been pretty lucky to nearly always have a supply of good law enforcement applicants," DeWeese said. "Our incentives are directed toward corrections (applicants), so maybe we get a spill over from that. I think our law enforcement staffing is stable because we're a large, well-known agency with a good reputation."

-- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.