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Understaffed Bend PD Hiring Officers

BEND, OR -- During its busiest time of year, the Bend Police Department is struggling to put enough officers on patrol. Chief Jim Porter tells KBND it’s due to a combination of recent retirements and the changing face of police forces across the country. "We have a unique challenge we haven’t had before. With the new officers we’re hiring, if you will, millennials, they are more engaged with their family, which is a good thing. They take longer time off with their family, and that’s a good thing; they have to build that resilience to come back and face challenges. But, they also take longer time off when a child is born. That’s a staffing that’s hard for us to predict. We’re at the highest call volume in the summer, with the lowest number of staff."

 

The hiring and training process takes longer than in past efforts, further delaying the ability to put more officers on the streets. "When we follow federal and state guidelines, it takes us a little while to get the hiring process rolling. And then we want to do very extensive background investigations into our applicants, that way we ensure we have the highest quality of applicants, someone who’s suited for the philosophy of Bend; and someone who isn’t going to move somewhere they’re going to fail, because it costs everyone money and time for that. So, we want to make sure we have the best applicants and that takes time," Chief Porter says. 

 

And, he says law enforcement agencies across are struggling to recruit good candidates due to recent negative publicity. "People hyper-critically scrutinize what we do. We make mistakes. Every profession has individuals within it who make mistakes. Every profession has individuals who have criminality in them – doctors, lawyers, no matter what it is. And, those are the folks who people in America now see. They don’t see the officers, like I get daily calls, ‘your officer took the time to talk to my child,’ ‘Your officer was so polite.’"

 

Chief Porter hopes to have seven new officers hired by later in the fall.

 

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