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San Francisco Police Department Understaffed By Some 200 Officers

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- The San Francisco Police Department is about 200 officers short of being fully staffed, and a recent wave of retirements is making it hard to keep the numbers up.

"It's kind of difficult to hire police officers these days because one, a lot of agencies are hiring," San Francisco Police Lt. Troy Dangerfield told KCBS.

Dangerfield says there are also issues with public perception of the job.

"The climate and the atmosphere that you hear about is cops getting killed," Dangerfield said.

A social media campaign to recruit applicants - especially women and people of color - launched Monday.

The videos of the We Are SFPD campaign feature several women.

Dangerfield said San Francisco needs an increasingly diverse department in order to serve a diverse city.

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