The “defund the police” mantra that has bedeviled law enforcement since the death of George Floyd now has a silver lining for anyone wanting to be a police officer.
Many major cities are trying to lure candidates through the door by offering cash bonuses to those who sign on to fill badly depleted ranks due to retirements, medical leave, and demoralization.
“We had ‘defund the police.’ Then Black Lives Matter jumped in, saying, ‘We don’t need the police,’” former Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Dennis Zine told the Washington Examiner. “The whole focus was to turn this into a social experiment. Police officers need respect, and that went out the window. So why would I want to be a police officer and get shot at? It doesn’t pay.”
For example, in Redding, California, the signing bonus started at $5,000 last year, and it’s now up to $40,000, which is more than half the starting salary, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“The negative attention brought to law enforcement really started people thinking that maybe this isn’t the job for me,” Redding Police Chief Bill Schueller said.
The LAPD started offering rent subsidies of up to $3,000 a month to help pay for astronomical housing costs in California, where the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is around $2,500. Los Angeles needs to fill 662 vacancies in an area that is 43% more expensive than the rest of the nation.
The funds have been donated from the private sector, and so far, the number of vacancies remains high.
LOS ANGELES LURES POLICE OFFICER RECRUITS WITH RENT SUBSIDIES
Other cities offering incentives are Ithaca, New York, at $20,000; Seattle at $7,500 for new recruits or $30,000 for experienced officers; and Warner Robins, Georgia, at $4,000.
Officers made an average salary of $70,740 last year, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The push to recruit is to avoid crisis situations like Chicago’s, which broke a 25-year record last year with 800 homicides. Officers have been quitting in droves, and those who remain have had a hands-off approach to criminals because they fear backlash from local politicians.
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Last year’s 12% arrest rate was the lowest in 20 years despite a surge in crime, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
