Las Vegas Review-Journal: The rising cost of living along with spikes in health insurance and retirement plan costs are blunting Nevada’s attempts to recruit and retain state troopers, a police union leader said.
New reporting shows that Nevada’s state police shortage has only worsened due to rising costs under Joe Lombardo’s failed leadership. After calling state trooper vacancies “a crisis” on the campaign trail in 2022, Lombardo has still failed to offer any real solutions to address these shortages.
As the vacancy rate remains at roughly 50 percent for those assigned to patrol Nevada’s highways, only three to four officers patrol the entire Las Vegas Valley overnight and state police had to stop patrolling Reno between 2-5 a.m.
Reminder: Lombardo said that while police cite take-home pay as the reason for shortages, those are just constant complaints “of people that represent them, in particular to the union representatives.” Instead of keeping communities safe, Lombardo voted against the union’s collective bargaining agreement that included critical pay increases for officers. Attorney General Aaron Ford and Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, both voted in favor of pay raises for police.
Las Vegas Review-Journal: ‘Our numbers are hurting’: Nevada continues to struggle with trooper vacancies
- The rising cost of living along with spikes in health insurance and retirement plan costs are blunting Nevada’s attempts to recruit and retain state troopers, a police union leader said.
- Dan Gordon is president of the Nevada Police Union, which represents state troopers, parole and probation officers and others across Nevada.
- The vacancy rate remains at roughly 50 percent for those assigned to patrol the Silver State’s highways.
- “The general public clearly knows there are very few troopers out on the road and that our staffing numbers are hurting,” Gordon said. “It’s easy to see it because people experience it. They see the cars flying by them well over the speed limit.”
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