JSO... Another hiring freeze??

[jonnyquest]

Heard JSO is on another hiring freeze, the city of Jacksonville is so far in the hole budget-wise, it's yanking $32 million from the department.
Talked with a deputy who stated the same. And he's not happy, between drop (retirement) and college requirements, JSO's already down approx. 600 officers.

[2Lucky]

jonnyquest,

when you say "down 600 officers", do you mean the number is now at 600? If so, what is supposed to be a decent compliment of officers?

2Lucky

[jonnyquest]

They are short 600 officers of being fully staffed.

[canman07]

I have heard different things about JSO. I spent four years in the Marine Corps and have my degree. Currently, I have applied to a few local police and sheriffs departments in Florida. However, at the same time I am also in the secret service process and have talked to a few of the agents in Jacksonville who at one time worked for JSO. They told me one of their reasons for leaving was salary issues which was a direct effect from their budget problems. JSO as big as their department requires a four year degree or an A.A degree plus military and they want to pay their officers 37K a year. You might be able to attract 19 year olds to that pay, but for individuals who spent time in the military and have degrees it’s not that attractive. Plus you have to pay into their retirement system. I don’t know just my opinion. If they want to have such high hiring standards then they need to be pay for it. Besides that I have heard good things about their department..

[jonnyquest]

Don't know why if you have a 4 year degree or above you wouldn't want to go Federal! 37K isn't enough to buy a small house in a bad area of town here in Jacksonville (all of Florida for that matter). Most of the officers i know work a TON of off-duty (60+hours a week) to pay their mortgage.

[canman07]

Well Im trying to get in and the process is moving, but at the same time I can not wait forever. The best advice they give you when you are in the Fed process is to live your life and wait for a call.

[StudChris]

Don't know why if you have a 4 year degree or above you wouldn't want to go Federal!

Why do you say that? I know a lot of people with military and degrees that have absolutely no interest in going federal. Don't forget that when you go federal most of your career is going to be spent at a desk. See the trick is to work local and be on a federal task force... they have all the fun.

And 37K isn't all that much, but it will go further in the counties surrounding Duval than 40K will in south florida.

[jonnyquest]

And 37K isn't all that much, but it will go further in the counties surrounding Duval than 40K will in south florida.

True, could be alot worse like in sunny Calif.

You can't live that far outside the county working for JSO, take-home cars.

[J-ville 5-0]

Heard JSO is on another hiring freeze, the city of Jacksonville is so far in the hole budget-wise, it's yanking $32 million from the department.
Talked with a deputy who stated the same. And he's not happy, between drop (retirement) and college requirements, JSO's already down approx. 600 officers.

600 short??????? I don't know where you are getting your information from but let's do the math. The city of Jacksonville if divided into six zones. So with 600 short department-wide, each zone would be short 100 officers. We are PAINFULLY short alright, just not 600 short. The real number is closer to 250. While that number is still high, its not the 600 the thread starter is claiming. And we are not in a hiring freeze. Two more hired classes are starting up this month. While the rest of the city may be in a freeze, public safety is not. The Sheriff asked for and was granted a twelve percent budget increase to include the hiring of an additional forty officers (not including the 250 that we're short). With Tallahassee threatening to toy with the property tax, the Mayor is ready to scale back everyone's budget. This is going to hit the SO's pocket book by scaling back our budget to last years, 290 million. So what all of this means is maybe not as many hired classes for the fiscal year of 07/08 but we're still going to be processing recruits....

[J-ville 5-0]

I have heard different things about JSO. I spent four years in the Marine Corps and have my degree. Currently, I have applied to a few local police and sheriffs departments in Florida. However, at the same time I am also in the secret service process and have talked to a few of the agents in Jacksonville who at one time worked for JSO. They told me one of their reasons for leaving was salary issues which was a direct effect from their budget problems. JSO as big as their department requires a four year degree or an A.A degree plus military and they want to pay their officers 37K a year. You might be able to attract 19 year olds to that pay, but for individuals who spent time in the military and have degrees it’s not that attractive. Plus you have to pay into their retirement system. I don’t know just my opinion. If they want to have such high hiring standards then they need to be pay for it. Besides that I have heard good things about their department..

AGREED!!!! JSO's hiring requirements certainly don't compliment their starting salary. And yes, its hard to buy a house in a nice part of Jax on 37k. If your single or have a stay-at home wife, your only options are buying a condo or move out of county (rural). Many officers talk about working off-duty. Who wants to work more when your supposed to be off? Off-duty pay is supposed be for spending money, not the mortgage.

I don't think federal is the answer - too much potential for mandatory moving. As far as our pension, we don't pay into social security or the state retirement. We pay into our own fund with has over a billion dollars in it.

[canman07]

J-ville 5-0,

I know things could get crazy with the budget if Tallahassee does do ANYTHING with the property tax situation. However, is JSO looking into increasing the salary for their officers? Any upcoming union agreements going into effect?

[jonnyquest]

600 total officers, corrections, comm. officers, etc.

Sorry.

[luckydog]

Any news on the $32,000,000 budget cut? The HR department's web site is stating an indefinite hiring freeze.

[J-ville 5-0]

Any news on the $32,000,000 budget cut? The HR department's web site is stating an indefinite hiring freeze.

Sheriff Rutherford came out on Thursday and told the media that he could cut around 4 mil from the budget but that was it. Like someone else said, this is gonna get ugly for all of us. Some idiot wrote an editorial saying to do away with the take home car program. He also said to get rid of our pension plan and change over to a 401k type program, like the private sector.

[ftlaudcop]

the local people in south fla also want that 401 plan, and we all
know thats not gonna work unless ya bump up the hourly wage by $5,
at the entry level