Police agencies have a tough time finding good recruits

Police controversies in Ferguson, Missouri, New York City, Los Angeles, and across the country are making it tougher to recruit, according to those doing the hiring.

"More and more folks may be looking at the profession and saying, 'Why would I want to subject myself to that level of scrutiny or that level of public disdain," said Assistant Sheriff Todd Rogers of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.

Meanwhile, retirements are creating vacancies and post-Recession budgets bouncing back means there's a lot of demand. The L.A. Sheriff’s Department is looking to fill more than 800 sworn vacancies right now, and Rogers expects to see 700 deputies pass through the trainee academy in the next 12 months.

“The law enforcement profession in general in California and really nationwide is hiring, and every agency is finding more and more difficulty finding the A-plus candidate,” Rogers said.

To find them, agencies are looking outside their traditional applicant pool and sending recruiters all over the state and country.

The San Diego Sheriff’s Department, whose website says it's looking to “hire an unprecedented number of employees in the coming months," is scheduled to be at an L.A. job fair on Tuesday. The same goes for Riverside County, where Sargent Robert Pickowitz says there are "several hundred" openings and his recruiters will be set up at a jobs fair Wednesday in San Gabriel. 

"Right now, it’s a lot of competition between agencies to find the best candidates out there," Pickowitz told KPCC.   "We’re expanding, so we have tapped into San Diego County, L.A. County, Orange County, we’ve even gone into Arizona and Nevada."

Los Angeles County has about 9,000 Sheriff's Deputies. Riverside has about 3,300 corrections deputies and deputy sheriffs. 

Officials from several agencies said many people actually apply, but few make it through the rigorous application process. There's background checks, written tests, and physical fitness tests. And many of those who do make it through drop out during training.

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department recently overhauled its screening process to try to weed out applicants unlikely to make it through the academy in the hopes of graduating more recruits.