Laid Off Cops Look for Work
OAKLAND, Calif. (KCBS) For some Oakland police officers who had Tuesday and Wednesday off, Thursday would be their first official day laid off.
One of them is Gordon Dorham, who said he loved his East Oakland beat. But instead of patrolling from International Boulevard to Foothill, he's home calling a few of his 79 fellow laid off officers, checking in on their mental health.[pullquote quote="It's hard to go home and not know whether you're going to have a job in the next couple of days. " credit="Former Oakland Police Officer Gordon Dorham"]
"What was harder to deal with was being forced to go out into the street and have a mindset that was less than ideal because of the stress that I was dealing with when I would get off of work," said Dorham. "Thinking about whether I was going to get laid off or not. It's hard to go home and not know whether you're going to have a job in the next couple of days. Or if you'll even have a job tomorrow or if your buddy next to you is going to have a job. How is he going to feed his family?"
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Dorham said he has already checked in with East Palo Alto, San Francisco and Walnut Creek, knowing he'll be competing with hundreds of other good cops for a handful of jobs.
"If you ask me right now, I love OPD and I want to go back to OPD," said Dorham. "I'm already missing the citizens of Oakland that I reach out and contact everyday that I'm out there on the streets."
Dorham turns 28 next week, which means he's young enough to change careers. But he recognizes his passion for law enforcement is too strong to quit so easily.
