Ray Wilson: County CEO needs to help fill law enforcement jobs
Re “County CEO says low pay not to blame for deputy shortage” (Page A2, June 1): In regards to the understaffing issues, Merced County CEO Jim Brown recently said, “Today, the millennial generation isn’t interested in a law enforcement career. I think when most of us were back in our youth, we had friends who all wanted to be police officers. Today, you don’t see that,” Brown said. “Then combined – it’s not a good thing, we don’t support it, we don’t agree with it – the perception right now of law enforcement doesn’t help. So those two things make it very difficult to recruit quality employees.”
If this is true, and I am not convinced it is, then it is Brown’s job to figure out a way to fill these unfilled positions. It is not his job to whine about the younger generation. Since the beginning of time, older generations have complained about the youth.
It is the job of all leaders to figure out a way to deal with the workforce. The alternative is to not hire anyone and hope no one leaves and the situation improves. But that’s not guaranteed and it leaves a leadership gap for a generation.
Ray Wilson, Atwater
This story was originally published July 17, 2017 at 12:24 PM with the headline "Ray Wilson: County CEO needs to help fill law enforcement jobs."