San Fran Police Recruitment Drops 72% From 2019 Despite $112,000 Rookie Salary

San Francisco is (believe it or not) having trouble recruiting new police officers. After all, who wants to try and be the police in a 'woke' city where lawlessness is encouraged and the police are hated just for doing their jobs?

Things have gotten so bad in the Bay Area that the city is now trying to entice rookie officers with a massive starting pay of $112,398 per year - and the city is still having trouble finding new officers for its force, according to Yahoo/Bloomberg. 

According to the report, San Francisco's police force faces a severe recruitment crisis, with only 26 recruits joining in 2023, a 72% drop from 2019 and the lowest in over a decade.

The city's police staff has declined by 13% since 2020, from over 1,800 to just under 1,600, the report says. Currently, only 23 trainees are at the academy, with no certainty of graduation. The six figure payday offer for new San Francisco cops marks the highest for rookies in major U.S. cities, surpassing Chicago's $88,746 after 18 months. 

Ted Schwartz, acting police chief in Ithaca, added: “Twenty years ago, we would have hundreds of people knocking down our door to be police officers. That’s not true in our society anymore.”

San Francisco, despite cutting $120 million from police budgets under protest pressure, isn't alone in struggling to recruit officers. Cities like Arcata, Ithaca, and Chicago are offering up to $50,000 bonuses, while Alameda, California, leads with a $75,000 bonus and a starting salary of $113,654, more than San Francisco.

Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, commented to Bloomberg: “These bonuses sound more like sports teams than a civil service position. I’ve never seen anything like it. It feels like desperation.”

In 2022, police officer resignations surged by 47% and retirements increased by 19% compared to 2019, reveals a survey by the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, covering nearly 200 police agencies.