Police Hiring

I didn’t become a cop to get rich. So what do I care if we get pay parity and the 3% at 50 [which would allow deputies to retire after 25 years at age 50 and receive 75% of their salary] during this contract negotiation?

I became a cop to help people. My wife and kids would like me to do this without getting killed in the process. My life can often depend on my partners. As people decide to become peace officers, they compare the hiring packages departments have to offer. The Ventura County Sheriff Department’s package is below average, compared with other local agencies.

As a result, we start to get fewer applicants.

Why would anyone want to work for less pay and no 3% at 50 for my department when you can get higher pay and 3% at 50 working for other local agencies like the Ventura Police Department?

So who will be applying for my department? Applicants who have been disqualified from other law enforcement agencies.

So far my department has been able to resist hiring the lesser-qualified people, but sooner or later [the department] will need to lower its standards.

And that means that I will end up putting my life in the hands of a person who only got hired because we were short on applicants. Compounding this problem is the fact that good deputies in my department are beginning to leave for other agencies that have more to offer.

You, the public, will also notice the difference. Do you want someone who would have been disqualified from the testing process because of a history of laziness coming to your house when you are a victim of a burglary or vandalism? Do you want a deputy with poor writing skills documenting in a report what happened to you when you were robbed, raped or beaten?

We are a low crime county for a reason. I believe it is because of our higher standards in hiring deputies. And I want to keep it that way. But if our hiring standards fall, I may take the advice of another letter writer and leave the department to go work for another. Taxes won’t have to be raised because the money is already there, regardless of what the Board of Supervisors claims. I bet they find some money when it’s time to vote themselves a raise.

Romano Bassi

Deputy Sheriff

Ventura