The Dodge City Police Department struggles to keep officers. Stress, in an era where police complain they’ve become pariahs, only makes it harder to hire and keep officers on patrol. All that turnover means more work for the officers that remain, which could bring on more burnout. “We asked these people to do so much more with less staff,” said Deputy Police Chief Jerad Goertzen. “When we’re putting so much more on them and asking them to do more, (it) seems like burnout is hitting a little bit earlier.” A week after making that observation, two more people had put in their resignation letters. Law enforcement agencies across the country are straining to hire. Job postings that used to get hundreds of applicants now have a fraction of the interest. Officers are logging more overtime, morale is low and jails are struggling. Sedgwick County, for instance, is spending $2.3 million to install cameras in its jail to compensate for the people it can’t hire.
Source: KCUR News
