Law enforcement spending budget reductions and layoffs have impacted law enforcement’s ability to effectively respond to anything less than the most serious crimes. However, as USA Today reports, law enforcement agencies on the other side of the tracks are resorting to unconventional methods to fill vacancies. Thus, employing paid and volunteer civilian police in the careers trained officers used to do is becoming commonplace.
Civilian police careers: not so well-paid, not so experienced
Thanks to the economic recession, civilian police jobs are taking Monday morning quarterbacks and turning them into crime-scene investigators, photographers and evidence gatherers, writes USA Today. Charges of undermining the professionalism of those who walk the thin blue line have peppered the offices of the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO), said Executive Director Bill Johnson. Even within the profession, there is controversy over some civilian police jobs that ignore standard pay and benefits negotiated for true police officers.
“The economy ought not to be pushing this,” said Johnson to USA Today
Budget reductions and civilian law enforcement
It has become more essential to boost civilian law enforcement since police budgets are going down in most cities. 16 civilians were hired to investigate burglary and property crime in San Francisco which only cost $1 million which is relatively cheap thinking about what the job generally costs. Assistant Police Chief Thomas Shawyer told USA Today that the program saved the city $40,000 per person in training, gear and benefits. The police department in Mesa, Ariz., saved about $15,000 per person in salary by using eight civilian investigators starting in 2009. Those who were replacing the experts were those working in customer service at Costco, Barnes and Noble and Southwest airline which made them interesting civilians.
Where it gets scary is Durham, N.C.. After murders and other violent crimes, civilian operatives have to canvass neighborhoods. It puts needed eyes on the street for making up for officers lost due to law enforcement layoffs, but as Johnson puts it, “At that point of contact, we want a full-fledged police officer dealing with the public.”
Citations
USA Today
usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-10-11-1Acitizenpolice11_ST_N.htm
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