Police Officers Leaving For Other Cities

By Tak Landrock t.landrock@krdo.com

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COLORADO SPRINGS – Budget cuts at the Colorado Springs Police Department have sworn officers looking for new jobs in cities that will pay more.

NEWSCHANNEL 13 spoke with recruiting officers in San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and Denver. “We look for the best officers; we look all over the country,” says Sonny Jackson, a spokesperson with Denver Police.

He admits Denver Police holds job fairs in Colorado Springs several times a year; while they don’t just target police officers, getting one is a plus.

Veneza Agunga, a spokeswoman with the Austin Police Department tells NEWSCHANNEL 13 there has been some interest from officers in the Colorado Springs Police Department. “We’ve had three officers from there express some interest, but nobody has come down to take the test.”

Officers who spoke with NEWSCHANNEL 13 on the condition of anonymity says the reason they’re looking elsewhere come down to pay. For example, a new officer in Austin can get $20,000 more a year; if they have a college degree or speak Spanish, that could add another $400 per month to their paycheck.

“Our employees at Colorado Spring Police Department are very marketable,” says Sgt. Steve Noblitt, a Community Resource Officer. He says officers haven’t received a pay raise in the last two years. “If someone is looking to be employed somewhere else and they’re feeling under appreciated that is a concern for us.”

According to C.S.P.D numbers, 66 officers will be lost to attrition by 2012, andthose positions will not be filled. If extra officers decide to jump ship to other department in that time, those positions also will not be filled. “If we had 20 today up and leave, we would have to have a contingency plan, maybe we would have an academy to fill those positions,” says Sgt. Noblitt.

But right now because of budget cuts there are no plans to have an academy for the next two years. If a large number of officers were to leave, it could be 2013 before new recruits could be hired and another year before they are trained to be on their own. “It takes a while to get officer where they’re seasoned and comfortable to be by themselves,” adds Sgt. Noblitt.