SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KERO) — Police officers in San Diego have been leaving the department in droves, searching for better opportunities as they face continuous staffing shortages.
According to the president of the San Diego Police Officers Association, more than 180 officers have left SDPD this fiscal year with eight leaving in one week alone just last week.
The union believes that is the highest in six years and says staffing is impacting response times for things like priority one calls.
"Priority one calls are life-threatening incidents. And when it takes 33 minutes for an officer on average to get there, it's just unacceptable. People deserve better service than that."
The president of the police officers association says they're in contract negotiations with the city and he hopes for a collaborative process with city leaders.
They're hoping to pay officers a fair wage so they can retain them.
