Pa law enforcement hits 11-year low
Tuition assistance urged for new police officers
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READING - Pennsylvania's law enforcement workforce has fallen to an 11-year low, leaving police departments, sheriff's offices and the Pennsylvania State Police competing for fewer applicants while trying to keep experienced officers from leaving for better-paying jobs.
That was the message Wednesday during a House Republican Policy Committee hearing at Reading Regional Airport focused on law enforcement recruitment and retention.
State Rep. David H. Rowe, R-Snyder/Union/Mifflin/Juniata, who chairs the committee, said Pennsylvania employed about 24,300 police officers and sheriff's deputies in 2024. That represented a 14% decline since 2013.
"When Pennsylvanians call for help, they expect a trained law enforcement officer will be there to answer that call," Rowe said.
The hearing brought together municipal police, county sheriffs, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the state Attorney General's Office to discuss why agencies are struggling to fill positions and what lawmakers can do about it.
Bern Township Police Chief Brett Forry said departments that once received hundreds of applications for a single opening now may receive only a handful. Some applicants also fail to meet the professional, educational, physical, or ethical standards required for the job.
Forry said today's officers are being asked to handle increasingly complicated duties, including mental health calls, crisis intervention, medical emergencies and community problems, while departments operate with fewer people.
The result, he said, is more overtime, fatigue, and stress, all of which can push experienced officers toward the door.
Forry urged lawmakers to consider tuition assistance, academy scholarships, student loan repayment, relocation incentives, and tax credits for new officers. Smaller municipal departments, he said, often can't compete financially with larger agencies or private-sector employers.
He also called for more state help with training and officer wellness programs.
Carbon County Sheriff Daniel Zeigler said county sheriff's offices face many of the same problems, but pay differences between neighboring counties can make retention especially difficult.
Zeigler said deputies in Carbon County work 37 1/2 hours a week, while deputies in a neighboring county work 40 hours and can earn about $10 more per hour for doing similar work.
His office can put a deputy through a 19-week academy, Zeigler said, only to see that employee leave for a higher-paying agency after becoming certified.
"They want to raise a family, buy a house," Zeigler said. "They can go to a neighboring county and get paid for more hours at a significantly higher rate."
Zeigler said sheriff's offices also have lost a source of applicants they once counted on. Retired law enforcement officers are increasingly choosing to leave the profession entirely, while fewer college graduates are seeking jobs in sheriff's offices.
Zeigler suggested a statewide minimum pay standard for deputies, state-supported signing bonuses, and retention stipends. He also said counties could consider using certain Act 13 Marcellus Shale funds for law enforcement and first responders.
Greg Rowe, senior counsel to Attorney General Dave Sunday, said recruitment and retention have to be treated as separate problems.
Hiring brings new people into the system, he said, but losing veteran officers strips agencies of experience at a time when crimes involving technology, sophisticated drug trafficking, and human trafficking are becoming harder to investigate.
"Experience matters," Rowe said.
Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. Christopher King said PSP faces another problem: its authorized complement, or staffing cap.
King said PSP currently has about 210 trooper vacancies. One academy class of 47 cadets is scheduled to graduate Friday, while another class of 57 is expected to graduate later this year.
Another academy class is scheduled to begin in October, but King said PSP can't fill positions until vacancies exist under the current cap. At the same time, the agency expects a significant number of retirements early next year.
King asked lawmakers to support House Bill 697 and Senate Bill 641, proposals that would address the complement cap and give PSP more flexibility to hire in anticipation of retirements.
He said the problem has become more pronounced as PSP has moved troopers into specialized assignments involving computer crimes, financial crimes, cellular analysis, political violence investigations, and other areas.
Those positions have grown while calls handled by troopers in the field have also increased, King said.
The hearing was hosted by state Rep. Eric Weaknecht, R-Berks, a former Berks County sheriff who said recruitment and retention became his biggest challenge during his final years in that office.
Weaknecht said his department often trained deputies who later left for municipal police jobs.
For lawmakers, the testimony repeatedly returned to the same question: how can Pennsylvania make law enforcement attractive enough to bring qualified people in, while giving experienced officers enough reason to stay?
The witnesses offered different answers, including higher pay, education incentives, wellness programs, training assistance, and greater flexibility in state hiring.
But their warning was consistent. Fewer officers mean more pressure on the people who remain, and that pressure can make the next resignation or retirement even harder to replace.