Staffing shortages at SDPD have seen a 51% increase from the year before, NBC 7’s Mari Payton reports.
Last fiscal year, the San Diego Police Department lost 241 officers, a 51% increase from the year prior. Another 138 officers have already left this year.
On April 3, a letter was reportedly sent to former San Diego police officers, asking them to "consider again being part of the team," and to "be a part of the police department that is dedicated to serving and collaborating with our community."
Shortly after these letters were distributed, images of the letter were posted to a social media account used by former and current San Diego police officers.
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The letter states that incentives to return include a 5% pay increase in 2023 and 2024. It also states that COVID vaccines are not required and entices former officers with specialized assignments in the K-9 Unit and SWAT team.
Paul Cappitelli, a retired Sheriff’s Department captain and police practices expert said, "My sense is they are not going to have a ground swell of people that are going to say 'Great, I am going to come back for an extra 5% or 10%."
Cappitelli said policing is a difficult and dangerous job, especially these days.
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"This is the worst period I have ever seen in my four decades of being in the police profession," he said.
There’s been a history of mistrust, but today, high-profile incidents like the killing of George Floyd changed the way many people view police officers and it’s made the job even harder.
Police officers cannot do their job effectively if they do not have support from the community and support from elected officials. Cappitelli said sending out letters like these is a “band-aid” approach that doesn't address the underlying problems.
"You need to reach out to the people who left the profession and ask them why they left. And ask them what conditions would change to entice them to come back," said Cappitelli.
In April 2022, NBC 7 spoke with Jared Wilson, who remains the current president of the San Diego Police Officer's Association (SDPOA) about the large number of officers fleeing the force.
At the time, Wilson told NBC 7 that the exodus wasn’t the result of one issue but said the vaccine mandate imposed by the city of San Diego at the time pushed some over the edge, paving the way for others to follow. The vaccine mandate, as the letter states, was lifted by the city March 9, 2023.
A 2021 survey done by the SDPOA, the union that represents most San Diego police officers, found that more than 400 officers would consider quitting if the city enforced a vaccine mandate.
The city confirmed to NBC 7 that as of April 2022, only 68 officers stated the mandate is the reason why they left, but Wilson feels the real number is much higher.
“It’s somewhat of a snowball,” Wilson told NBC 7 last year. ”Once a few people leave, it just keeps going and going and going. And it’s just beyond the mandate at this point. It’s a catalyst but it’s not the main issue.”
The main issue, Wilson said, has been building for decades: low morale due to sub-average salaries, but added that it’s not just pay. He says there’s a perceived lack of support from top city brass.
Between 2017 and 2021, at least 72 San Diego Police officers left the department for other agencies elsewhere within Southern California.
The staffing issues are not only here in San Diego, but nationwide.
The Los Angeles Police Department has lost nearly 1,000 officers. The mayor there is making a big push to fill those vacancies.
A spokesperson from the San Diego Police Department would not comment on the letters. He wouldn't tell NBC 7 how many of them had been sent out or if anyone had taken them up on the offer.
A statement from the SDPOA sent to NBC 7 today read, "The SDPD has a crisis in staffing and high response times. We have lost over 500 officers since July 2020. Response times for priority one calls are over 30 minutes. The recruiting unit has a difficult job considering over 130 officers left last year over a vaccine mandate. The mandate recently ended with the city settling a lawsuit and paying attorney fees."
