Babysitter or Employer?

This was a great article! I am currently a manager (sometimes I call myself a babysitter) for the Abercrombie & Fitch Company, but trying to enter the law enforcement field. I have roughly 200 part-time employee's which are all made up of high school and college students. You nailed this article dead on. Personally I am over the "fun environment" and would definitely consider law enforcement a career, falling into the 3% category.

Policing is a hard job and I do commend all officers in the field for their services, but this will not be a career that most young people are striving for. With violence becoming more of the norm, you could not pay me enough to serve and protect. It may be cowardly, but I was not cut out to risk my life on a day to day basis. If I was, I would become a professional skydiver. Instead of being shot by some drug dealer, I could have an instant and somewhat painless death.

Although my last comment wasn't all serious, I think there is some truth to it. Trying to fill the void of those who would rather work in the police force than behind a desk may be harder than having a few barbeques and providing more feedback...

In my area we must be the exception to the hiring problems others are always talking about. In general for 10 or so openings you can expect to be competing againt 75 to 100 applicants for the five largest local departments. In investigating why other areas seem to have a shortage the only real difference I can point to is pay. When comparing pay in my area to that of those areas short officers I've found that when cost of living is taken into account the local departments here pay 5 to 15% higher.
Speaking as a 26 yr old the difference in pay speaks more to the lack of applicants in those areas than a shortage of barbecues, picnics, and hand-holding bosses/superiors. Of course, I was a product of parents with a more classic view of parenting than most these days.