Finally graduated...!

[SiG Lady]

Yes on all counts. And it's particularly discouraging to note that Eugene, OR and Lane County are BOTH at the very BOTTOM of the national rankings as it pertains to cop-per-capita of population. Seriously. Right at the very bottom. This nice little town and county, so impoverished it's barely covered by a mere handful (or less) of officers at any given time. Naturally, this means we have a ton of property crime not being attended to or prosecuted, a ton of CBRs (capacity-based releases) from the Jail each day due to the Federal guidelines on alleged crowding (our inmates are far from overcrowded!!) and a ton of dispatch calls that we routinely DON'T respond to directly any more. The cops are tired, working too much overtime, suffering from health problems and other things, and some are leaving the area to go elsewhere for somewhat better hours and usually better pay. It's really scary. God love 'em, they're good people here, but they're suffering and it's understandable why some can't take it for too long.

[John Heiter]

For some reason, the more important the job, the less America pays. Teachers, Cops, Soldiers, etc. on one end and then pro atheletes, actors, and spoiled socialites on the other.

[SiG Lady]

A recent employment posting for Police Officer in the City of Eugene indicated a starting pay of a little over $47,000... with a high end of $60,000 on that position over time. Bear in mind that Oregon is heavily state-income-tax dependent, so there's a big chunk of that sum that does NOT go into the pocket of the officer doing the job. And the City here tends to pay a little higher than the County.

[MichiganShootist]

Just curious.

Do you have..... Er.......You Know........

Handcuffs

[SiG Lady]

Er... NO.

[AShots]

Congrats SiG Lady!

I graduated from our CPA here in Gwinnett Co., GA in October and am now the Eastside Precinct liaison for the Alumni Assoc. Looking forward to supporting our hardworking officers here as much as possible. If you have any ideas of what would be really useful or they'd love to get, (well, aside from bottled water ha!) please PM me.

And I think I'll stay quiet on the most recent topic of conversation re:handcuffs

Andrea

[SiG Lady]

What the officers in your area need or want may depend on how well the local budget supports them in the first place and how many of them you have on the streets at any given time--and how large your metro area is. I think what OUR cops want/need most is simply MORE COPS.

Both our county and municipal forces have three volunteers working somewhere in the system for every four official employees. That's a helluva lot of volunteers! Our two local cop-shop agencies would be DEAD-in-the-water completely without the volunteer organizations currently in place. Heck, our county Search & Rescue division, for example, has only ONE paid employee... and hundreds of skilled volunteers. Lord, God, would someone please explain THAT for me! And that's what it's like HERE.

You might contact your volunteer coordinator at the P.D.--or the equivalent thereof--and find out what your folks need. Even if you engaged some donated activity for a limited time, it might be fun or be a good learning experience.

Congratulations on your graduation from YOUR academy efforts! You can wear that accomplishment with pride.