Pittsburgh police getting hundreds of fewer applicants for officers
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Applications to be a police officer are down throughout the region, but especially in the city of Pittsburgh, raising questions about overall public safety.
The lure of becoming a city police officer once drew thousands, but applications have slowed to a trickle and it's become harder to find people who still want the job of police officer.
The dream of becoming a big city police officer is now shared by fewer young men and women. Pittsburgh's police exam would once draw more than a thousand applicants to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. These days, the test is administered monthly at the Schenley Park Ice Rink, and on a good day, a dozen or so will show up.
"It's something I've always wanted to do," said Jarred John from Burgettstown.
Applicants like John have become the exception rather than the rule as numbers have dropped steadily over the past five years, from 846 in 2017 to just 212 in 2020. So far this year, only 40 applicants took the exam through the end of March, putting the city on a pace of 160 this year.
"It's demonstrating at least in Pittsburgh that nobody wants the job," said FOP President Robert Swartzwelder.
While Pittsburgh's numbers are alarmingly low, departments throughout the region and the nation all report their applicant pools are shrinking. Swartzwelder says one primary reason has been the public's reaction to high-profile cases of police misconduct and deaths in police custody.
"They paint the profession with a very broad brush based on that very, very small percentage. So the police are under attack," he said. "If your job is being disrespected openly and in public, people see that and they say, 'I don't want that job. I'll do something else.'"
The other factor is increased danger.
"Last year, officers were being killed at a rate of one every five days," FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a recent interview with 60 Minutes.
Last year, 73 police officers were killed in the line of duty across America, and Wray said many of those officers were specifically targeted.
"(They) were killed by things like being ambushed, shot while being out on patrol," he said, adding "wearing a badge shouldn't make you a target."
What's more: the applicants that do show up now are predominantly white and male.
"Being a Black male, you don't see a lot of African American cops out here," said Caleb Ferguson, the only Black applicant on Monday.
Pittsburgh has long tried to recruit more women and Black officers, but the current numbers are abysmal. Women make up just 14 percent of the force and African Americans only 11 percent in a city that is 28 percent Black. Ferguson would like to change that.
"If I do take this step, I'd like to be something my younger people under me could look up to and just represent the population in the neighborhood," he said.
Despite the current climate, candidate David Hajzus says he welcomes the challenge of being a cop.
"People are having doubts on the actions of police officers, but I think it's the job of the police officers to try to change that mindset, to be in the community, to be proactive, working for the community members, for them to realize you're actually on their side," he said.
For now, the city says it's been able to keep up with the budgeted number of 900 police officers, but 263 of them are now eligible for retirement and if they all take it, there aren't enough qualified recruits to replace them, raising serious concerns about the safety of everyone who lives or works in the city or comes here to visit.
