The number of sworn officers in the Highway Patrol has reached its lowest point since 2017 as the agency grapples with recruiting new troopers.
New data this week presented to a special joint legislative committee studying state employee compensation shows there are 464 sworn officers, down from 547, or 15%, from 2019. The civilian staff is down 10 people in 2022 from 2019.
Earlier data obtained from the patrol showed the agency with 519 sworn officers in 2018 and 496 the year before.
Highway Patrol Capt. Mitch Clark blamed the declining numbers on retirements, a shrinking labor pool and a lack of quality applicants who meet the patrol’s standards.
It’s a problem that has beset law enforcement nationally.
The agency graduated three troopers from its academy in June, seven in the class immediately prior and four in the class before that, the KHP data showed.
By comparison, 34 troopers graduated in July 2016, 48 graduated in 2017, 24 graduated in 2018 and 33 graduated in June 2019.
The classes dropped off precipitously in 2020 when the pandemic swept into the state.
“We are not graduating, we’re not putting out enough uniform members to still combat against those that we are losing in retirement,” Clark told the committee.
Clark said 19 years ago, the patrol would get 1,000 to 1,500 applicants a year.
“That’s just not the case any more,” he said.
“We definitely need a lot more to choose from.”
The lack of staffing has distinct implications for public safety.
For instance, the agency is 22 dispatchers short of having enough people to adequately staff its communications center, which means employees have to work longer hours or on their days off – similar to what Corrections Department employees face.
“It just takes a little bit of flu, a little bit of sickness to reduce that workforce,” Clark said.
In short, law enforcement is just not a popular job, he said.
Master troopers make on average $35.76 an hour while a trooper makes $25.05 an hour while enrolled in the academy. A starting trooper makes $27.61 an hour.
While Clark said pay could help, he suggested that there are a number of factors that have made it difficult to recruit new troopers.
“People just don’t want to come work in law enforcement due to the dangers that are out there now,” Clark said.
“We’re going through a time that law enforcement is not as attractive as it used to be,” Clark said. “We are dealing with a lot more violence and aggression out there.”
Republican state Rep. Leo Delperdang of Wichita said troopers have to endure a lot of “crap” from the public as they work to keep the public safe.
“I look at what you’re making per hour and I’m saying, ‘Oh my God, I don’t know if I could do that with what you go through on a daily basis and you go on it call after call after call, five, six, seven days a week,'” Delperdang said.
“We’ve got to go do something to help with these recruiting numbers before everybody starts retiring and we end up with a really small staff out there,” he said.
