Jobs go begging: good pay & top benefits
- From: "octogenarian" <jimg2k@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 11 Nov 2005 18:59:27 -0800
Cops put out a dragnet - for more cops By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Fri Nov 11, 8:11 AM ET
In the battle for police recruits, Phoenix essentially has declared war
on Los Angeles. And Phoenix police Sgt. Tony Lopez isn't about to
apologize for it. (Related: Police recruits in heavy demand)
With about 500 vacancies to fill and Phoenix virtually "tapped out" of
prospective officer candidates for its 2,969-member force, Lopez went
to Southern California recently to launch a $300,000 media campaign
aimed at attracting dozens of applicants in the Los Angeles Police
Department's backyard.
Phoenix's sharp-elbowed plunge into California became one of the most
aggressive law enforcement recruiting campaigns in the nation at a time
when dozens of police agencies are trying to fill thousands of
positions left vacant by years of local budget cuts and continuing
attrition.
Phoenix bought ads in the Los Angeles Times and spots on cable
television. But what really caught the attention of Los Angeles police
was Phoenix's slick brochure, which promised officer candidates the
chance to own their own homes - such as the Mediterranean-style beauty
shown on the brochure - if they were willing to leave California for
Arizona.
"L.A. is the one place in the country where we can compete with the
cost of housing," says Lopez, referring to the high real estate values
in the Los Angeles area, where the median home price of about $475,000
is nearly twice the median in Phoenix. "L.A. has serious
quality-of-life issues. (Los Angeles police recruiters) cannot be happy
we are in town."
Los Angeles police Cmdr. Kenneth Garner acknowledges that new officers
in Phoenix, who make $39,332 a year, can afford bigger homes than new
officers in his city, where rookies are paid $51,114. But Garner, whose
department is looking for hundreds of new officers, then jabs back. He
says Los Angeles officers "could buy the state of Arizona when you
retire."
Such battles for police recruits are being waged across the nation by
departments that are starting to get money to add officers. There's no
clearinghouse for job postings at the 16,000 law enforcement agencies
in the USA, but at least 80 departments were listed recently on a
popular law police website, lawenforcementjobs.com, where agencies
sought candidates for an array of jobs.
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