Resolving a Shortage of City Police Officers

Resolving a Shortage of City Police Officers

Subject: Proposal to Write a Report Recommending a Pay Increase to Remedy the Shortage of City of Miami Police Officers

Over the past few years, the nation has faced a "crisis" with the shortage of police officers (Axtman, 2006). It is well known that crime rates increase with the decrease in the number of police officers. Researchers have looked for the cause of such a decline and have identified low pay as a major reason for the deficiency.

Problem

Recent protests by City of Miami Police Officers have captured the attention of Miami-Dade County. Protesters are complaining that very low wages have created a scarce supply of police officers in the City of Miami. Better salaries, protesters say, will prevent officers from leaving to higher paying police departments.

Many examples exist that support the protestors' claims. Also faced with the problem of officer shortages, the police department in McKinney, Texas found that a raise in wages helped "attract and retain qualified officers" (Dallas Morning News, 2006). McKinney, losing officers to neighboring departments, solved the problem with a salary increase. Focusing on a city closer to home, police officers were leaving Opa-Locka as well. Opa-Locka City Commissioner Dorothy "Dottie" Johnson identified that "officer turnover is high due to low starting pay" (Berggren, 2006). She plans to remedy this problem if re-elected to her position on the Board of Commissioners.

As mentioned earlier, there is a correlation between crime rates and the quantity of police officers. A comparison of the City of Miami and the City of Coral Gables illustrates this relationship. The City of Coral Gables pay range for police officers is $42,842 to $68,124 (Coral Gables, 2006). The City of Miami only pays $37,817 to $50,764 (Miami-Police, 2006). Although the difference in starting salary is only $5,000, new recruits consider it when choosing an employer. In addition, the cap differs by almost $18,000, showing that raises are limited. Figure one, right, shows the difference between crime rates per capita in Miami and Coral Gables. Figure two, below shows the exact numbers of the data in the bar graph. It is clear that Miami has significantly more crime than Coral Gables.

Miami Coral Gables

Murder: 17.9 2.3

Forcible Rape: 26.48 23

Robbery: 614.5 133.4

Aggravated Assault: 1018.5 209.3

Burglary: 1442.4 1124.6

Larceny Theft: 3803.9 4213

Vehicle Theft: 1115.6 404.7

Although the shortage of police officers is not the only reason crime rates were higher in Miami, the shortage made a major influence.