Getting the Axe

[keith720]

I was just wondering how many of you out there are worried about loosing your job? Every single day, I thank God for my job. I can't imagine how hard it must be wondering from day to day if your job is going to be there tomorrow. I alwys tell rookies that you'll never get rich in this job, but you'll have a job.

[MacLean]

I think it's safe to worry a bit.

[Xiphos]

There's always the possibility. That being said though, with a little seniority you're in pretty good shape. Where I am here they'd have to lay off about 150 cops before getting to me, and that's over half our total strength. Barring something catastrophic like the city disbanding the department and as long as I don't do anything stupid enough to get fired I'm in pretty good shape. I don't have any anxiety though so I'm very grateful.

[jmur5074]

My dept's plan is to lose officers through attrition, not replacing retiring cops. Hopefully that will keep us from laying people off.

[GASheepdog]

In my area, there haven't been any layoffs for LEOs, but a few departments have furloughed officers in some way. For example, Atlanta PD is having their officers take off a day without pay during every two-week pay period, which amounts to a 10% pay cut.

We still worry, though, because some cities and counties have laid off firefighters and closed fire stations. In GA, a right to work state, there's nothing to prevent local governements from doing the same thing to police if they feel that public safety budgets need to be trimmed.

[Wolven]

Worry some..but here I have enough seniority to hopefully make it unlikely that I will get the axe. What worries me is that I am trying to move closer to family...and if I move laterally to another dept my seniority is no longer there to keep me safe. But there will never be a perfect time to move so I will try anyway...I have other talents/degrees to use if I need to if things go wrong.

[CT209]

Only 16 officers at my PD and only four of them have more seniority than me. Plus, there are about 8 or 10 other agencies I can "bump" into and I have more seniority than the majority of the officers in a lot of them.

I think I'm safe. About the only thing that may be possible would be I'd have to downgrade from Sgt to PO.

[ChesCopPodz]

My city is 4 steps away from laying any off. If they do, unfortunately due to the timing of my lateral transfer, there's only 20 (out of 700) below me.

Good news is that it doesn't look like the city will make it to even step 2 of the four so from what everyone says, im safe.

[Cidp24]

I'm the second most senior in a department of about 60 and I am eligible for retirement in June. No word whatsoever of any possible lay-offs here so I hope I am safe for quite a while.

[Retdetsgt]

We have about 900 sworn and the most I've ever seen laid off was less than 10. And they got their jobs back within a month or two. Both times, the city was making more of a statement after losing a contract arbitration than actually trying to save money. In fact, the last time, they got the laid off cops jobs as meter maids so they wouldn't stray too far. They'd already spent too much for training to lose them permanently.

When times have actually gotten hard, we've just gone into a hiring freeze. Enough people retire on a monthly basis to reduce the work force in a timely fashion.

The truth of the matter is, we're still struggling to hire. We are still way under strength.

The public isn't going to tolerate a reduction in police protection very long. LE tax levies are the only tax issues that consistently pass around here. People may not like cops, but they want them around. Same with firemen, their homeowner's insurance goes up when stations close. I can't speak for other parts of the country, but I can't see many cops, if any at all getting laid off around here.

[lewisipso]

anyway...I have other talents/degrees to use if I need to if things go wrong.

You know RSA is going to find this and use it against you. His spider sense is already tingliing.

[IndianaFuzz]

I wouldn't say I worry. Though the knowledge that any day, any time I could be out of a job does sit in the back of my head. It helps me appreciate what I have.