The Associated Press
SEATTLE — A new report commissioned by the state Legislature has found that Washington state troopers are not only underpaid, but they’re also unhappy with the agency’s management.
Many troopers are planning to leave the state agency in the near future, The Seattle Times reported. Those plans stem not just because of their pay or because they are nearing retirement age.
The report calls the situation “unsustainable” and makes recommendations for how the State Patrol can do a better job of keeping and recruiting troopers.
More than half of the nearly 500 troopers and sergeants who responded to a survey say their opinions aren’t taken into account by the State Patrol.
And 46 percent of those responding say they don’t feel the agency values them.
Low morale
“For many who stay, there is a feeling of dissatisfaction and low morale that impacts” the agency’s operations, according to the report.
Through interviews and survey comments, the report found troopers unhappy with scheduling, as well as the agency’s expectations over the number of tickets to be written and driver stops to be made.
The State Patrol “is so numbers-driven it has lost touch” with what troopers are there to do, said one respondent featured in the report.
The state Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee commissioned the study to figure out how to fix shortages in the number of troopers available to patrol Washington’s roads.
Trooper shortage
There are about 100 vacancies in the agency’s 671-person field-operations bureau.
Every year since 2009, the average monthly number of unfilled positions has risen.
The report, which was conducted by Public Financial Management, also spells out the urgency of the problem.
Nearly 20 percent of those who participated in the survey said they planned to leave the patrol for another law enforcement agency in the next two years.
The report lists workplace morale and low pay compared with other law enforcement agencies as its two major themes.
It lists a total of two dozen recommendations, including the following:
■ Improving recruiting practices.
■ Boosting pay.
■ Changing the way shifts are scheduled.
■ Conducting performance evaluations of all management staff.
■ Taking more input from troopers on uniform design.
■ Being more open-minded toward potential recruits who have had minor convictions or past drug use.
The State Patrol welcomed the report “as a big opportunity for us as an agency to look inside and figure out what we can do” to better keep and recruit troopers, said Kyle Moore, spokesman for the agency.
And the reports of troopers’ dissatisfaction with management are “good for us to hear,” he added.