Waukegan to Layoff 15 Officers

[chgometro]

For those of you who want to be the police, just found out Waukegan PD sent out letters to 15 officers on Monday stating their jobs will be eliminated on May 1.....This dept has huge issues in the community with gangs and drugs. They cannot afford to have this cut.

Some of you may want to consider a new career path since this is becoming a new wave of the future involving the layoff of officers.

[Todd0306]

Waukegan has been a train wreak for years now. Budget problems are really killing them and from just reading the papers shows how bad the city has been since Sabonjian took over. I guess audits were way behind. Money was not there that showed it was there. Just a complete mess there. Just like 2 year ago they were looking at cutting 6 or 7 officers, but they changed their minds.

[Chiguy27]

They can't even afford a website apparently, let alone afford to keep 15 on the streets, sad story. That's a good amount of people they are letting go for the size of that city.

[ochave000]

Omg, well the its only a matter of time before waukegan becomes lawless, because that place has some huge problems they needed more officers not elimate 15 of them so sad, may they vote these clowns out

[Todd0306]

.....sad thing is that they did vote some of those clowns out.... the new people are still cleaning up that mess. I don't really care for Mayor Sabonjian, but he was handed a big mess. It crazy also because when Waukegan did their last police test, the talk was to hire 5 to 10... now all the talks are about layoffs.

[ochave000]

somethings really got to give, im really starting to think Illinois is not the area or state to start a Law Enforcement Career, im really going to start looking elsewhere, probably warmer weather

[BPD99]

For those of you who want to be the police, just found out Waukegan PD sent out letters to 15 officers on Monday stating their jobs will be eliminated on May 1.....This dept has huge issues in the community with gangs and drugs. They cannot afford to have this cut.

Some of you may want to consider a new career path since this is becoming a new wave of the future involving the layoff of officers.

Ive been trying to tell guys this. But the a lot of the new guys seem to be the know it all type, and you can see them nodding their head and not paying attention. I completely agree with you though.

somethings really got to give, im really starting to think Illinois is not the area or state to start a Law Enforcement Career, im really going to start looking elsewhere, probably warmer weather

Nowhere in the states is law enforcement safe from cuts. Look the officer.com news page. Patterson, NJ just cut 25% of their officers, and NJ as a whole is losing 100's of officers in communities around the state through lay offs.

In 2010 Oklahoma City OK layed off 300 officers. Believe me I could go on and on and list at least 10 or 12 other big city agencies cutting staff through attrition or lay offs. Jan of last year the NYPD (biggest dept in the country if you dont know) was supposed to have 1100 recruits in the academy and they scaled it back to only 250. Thats one helluva cut.
You guys need to really do your research on this.

California is going through a lot now and there are a lot of pd's cutting staffing of officers.

If you have a degree you may want to go into your career field now and reevaluate policing later on when things are better. The pols spend all the money on parks, and sidewalks and other beautification projects these days. When you have towns like Orland, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg and Naperville laying off or cutting staff you know its pretty bad. Even Tinley Park has been down 6 to 7 for awhile.

And in IL thats not even to mention the HUGE pension issues for towns, there are towns like Wilmette who only have about 20% of the funding for officers' retirements. There was a huge article in the tribune last year on this.

[goodfella]

For those of you who want to be the police, just found out Waukegan PD sent out letters to 15 officers on Monday stating their jobs will be eliminated on May 1.....This dept has huge issues in the community with gangs and drugs. They cannot afford to have this cut.

Some of you may want to consider a new career path since this is becoming a new wave of the future involving the layoff of officers.

Where did you get this info from?

[Toorop]

Tag for more information.

This thread is really a downer.

[chgometro]

Tag for more information.

This thread is really a downer.

Sorry you feel that way but it's the truth. You guys need to open your eyes to reality. BPD99 hit it right on the head, do some research. In a city or village budget the police department sucks up most of the budget. This means an officer's salary and benefits are a huge strain. So the easiest way to free up money is to cutback on department personnel or freeze new hires.

Not sure if some of you guys know this but the Federal Government requires that municipalities hold a valid eligibility list every two years. This DOES NOT mean they are hiring, they just have to establish a new list (in case of exigent circumstances).

Do your homework and read some of these older threads. Read whats going on in agencies rather than just "who is testing". I'm not going to dis any agency because I have made many friends on many departments over the years throughout the state, but come on people, open your eyes.

Thx BPD99 for having my back on this topic as touchy as it may be!

[chgometro]

Where did you get this info from?

several friends of mine are on the department

[Ted1958]

Even if the economy turns around tomorrow guys it still will take a few more years before departments can truly start hiring again. I know of one young guy who just decided to change his major from criminal justice to Business. These are hard time plus there are way too many of you guys wanting this job.

Take Chgometro advice
Some of you may want to consider a new career path since this is becoming a new wave of the future involving the layoff of officers.

[axelfoley4]

And in IL thats not even to mention the HUGE pension issues for towns, there are towns like Wilmette who only have about 20% of the funding for officers' retirements. There was a huge article in the tribune last year on this.

Speaking of wilmette, the villages' board members and i believe some board members from northbrook have started a huge anti-pension movement downstate. they claim that we should provide for our own retirement just like anyone else, and stop taking tax payers money..... if anyone lives in either town do your research and get them out of office... everyone is trying to eliminate our safety net.... no one cares that our death rate after retirement skyrockets!

[Toorop]

Speaking of wilmette, the villages' board members and i believe some board members from northbrook have started a huge anti-pension movement downstate. they claim that we should provide for our own retirement just like anyone else, and stop taking tax payers money..... if anyone lives in either town do your research and get them out of office... everyone is trying to eliminate our safety net.... no one cares that our death rate after retirement skyrockets!

It seems that the GOP rhetoric is hitting us here.

It is a downer but I will admit I only tested for Chicago. I am not as interested in suburban departments. I am also looking at a few departments out of state. But I figure it still sucks to here.