It’s being called “Blue Flight.”
A growing number of Detroit police officers are leaving town for other jobs. Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer has hired numerous officers and calls it a golden opportunity.
“We’re getting the cream of the crop,” says Dwyer. He adds, “Next week, we have six of them starting on the streets.”
Dwyer says the reason is simple. Higher wages, more benefits and better working conditions.
“The experience these officers have ranges from 2 years to 19 years in law enforcement. That’s huge,” says Dwyer. And he’s not alone.
Besides Warren, agencies like Southfield, Taylor and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office are all recruiting cops from Detroit.
Detroit Police Officers Association President Mark Diaz says since the start of the year, 117 officers have left for other jobs, 54 of them with other police agencies. Keep in mind, Detroit also paid for those officers to attend the police academy.
“The mayor has offered a proposal with wage increases, however, we have significant benefit decreases from bankruptcy we’re attempting to restore,” says Diaz. He credits DPD Chief James Craig for building morale and recruiting new academy classes. However, he says staffing levels are in a free fall.
Currently, officers are paid a starting salary of just under $18/hr.
“Right now, those benefits are next to nothing,” says Diaz. Citizens are also upset, telling us the “blue flight” doesn’t help with the city’s comeback.
“It doesn’t seem fair they’d get trained at the academy, and leave as soon as they can to go to the suburbs,” says one Detroiter. Another tells us “What does that do to the community you are leaving? The relationships you’ve established you may not even know about.”
So far, the city has reached deals with unions representing command officers and lieutenants and sergeants. In response to our story, Detroit Police say they are aware of the rate of officers leaving and working on ways to keep more of them.
In the meantime, Warren’s top cop says they’re open to hiring even more officers from Detroit. For now, the officers union continues to negotiate with the city for a better deal.
