Anyone looking for a career in law enforcement will find plenty of “Now Hiring” signs in the Bighorn Basin. As of June 12, law enforcement agencies in all four counties of the Bighorn Basin are looking to fill important positions.
The Park County Sheriff’s Office posted an opening for a lateral Patrol Deputy in mid-May. Anyone interested in a career with the Park County Sheriff’s Office can access an application on the agency’s website.
Meanwhile, this is the last week to apply for a Regular Part-time Code Enforcement Officer in the Cody Police Department. The application period closes at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 16.
One position that isn’t open is Cody’s Chief of Police. Last week, Chief Chuck Baker announced his retirement after seven years leading the department. Lieutenant Jason Stafford has already been named as Baker’s successor.
On June 1, the Bighorn County Sheriff’s Office announced it was accepting applications for a 911 Operator/Dispatcher. The Washakie County Sheriff’s Office and Worland Police Department opened applications for its own 911 Dispatcher on June 9.
The Hot Springs County Sheriff’s Office has an opening for a Patrol Deputy and a Detention Deputy. The Thermopolis Police Department posted an open position for a Patrol Officer on Dec. 16, 2022 – but the position is still posted on the Town of Thermopolis website as “open until filled.”
While these positions are likely to be filled by qualified individuals, hiring and retaining law enforcement officers has been a persistent and “unprecedented” problem in recent years.
A national survey conducted in June 2021 found that police departments nationwide were filling 93% of available budgeted positions, according to the Police Executive Research Forum. However, the same survey showed a 45% increase in retirements and an 18% jump in resignations over the previous year.
CNN reports that generational differences, negative perceptions of policing, and the lengthy hiring process of many agencies are amongst the “multiple social, political, and economic forces” that are making hiring and retaining officers more challenging, according to a September 2019 survey by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Filling these vacant positions could take years.
But many of these hiring problems are most prevalent in the nation’s big cities. There are no signs of a “cop crisis” in the Bighorn Basin, even if filling the empty ranks of the region’s law enforcement agencies is a bit more challenging.
