The San Francisco Police Department is understaffed and having trouble filling the gaps. So reports CBS 5, which notes that the department blames a myriad of factors for the 200 open positions.
"It’s kind of difficult to hire police officers these days because one, a lot of agencies are hiring,” SFPD Lieutenant Troy Dangerfield told the channel before pivoting to something much less rosy. "The climate and the atmosphere that you hear about is cops getting killed.”
This isn't the first time department officials have said they fell short of desired numbers. In 2012 the San Francisco Appeal reported that the SFPD was also 200 officers short of staffing levels set by law. At that time, SF still had double the police force of Oakland.
Then, as in now, a wave of retirements was partly to blame. To give recruitment efforts a boost, the department today launched a social media campaign titled "We Are SFPD" with videos like the one below. While it's too soon to tell if the campaign will have the desired effect, officials hope the videos will showcase a diverse department and perhaps draw recruits from various backgrounds.
In the meantime, crime (except for homicides) is down across the city.
