San Jose To Hire Back Some Police Officers
SAN JOSE (KCBS) – The understaffed San Jose Police Department will soon be looking to hire more officers, after laying 66 cops due to budget cuts just a few months ago.
"I anticipate that we're going to have to start hiring officers, either lateral or brand new folks, probably within the next three or four months," said Chief Chris Moore.
He said that many sergeants who were demoted to save money will get their stripes back, and many laid off officers will be offered their old jobs.
However, this does not mean the department will actually be increasing in size. Moore said that these hires will largely fill in the gaps left by veteran cops who are retiring from the force.
KCBS' Matt Bigler Reports:
"These are replacements mind you," said Moore. "This isn't growth, these are replacements for retirements. We're not growing the organization at this point. I hope to get to a point where we're able to grow, and increase our staffing back to what it was a couple of years ago."
He said that the future of the police department depends largely on the pension agreements reached by the city. Talks on those agreements are scheduled for Tuesday.
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