A survey conducted by the labor union representing Laguna Beach police employees reported poor morale among a cohort of the rank and file, alarming some local officials and policing experts.
The Laguna Beach Police Employees’ Association issued the survey to its members after the City Council contracted a research firm, Polco, to survey city employees-in-general and police employees specifically last July. The Polco survey results were presented in a format that mostly highlights positive or affirmative responses.
While Laguna Beach police employees work at a small agency with a relatively low crime rate—policing a world-renowned coastline—they’re not immune to the nationwide outrage surrounding the murder of George Floyd and the pandemic-burnout endured by public safety employees, law enforcement experts said.
Forty employees responded from among 78 police union members who were sent the organization’s survey in October. By compassion, the Polco survey invited 86 police employees and 61 responded.
Only 56% of Laguna Beach police employees said they were very or somewhat likely to recommend working for the Laguna Beach Police Department, according to the Polco study. By comparison, only 35% of union survey respondents said they were very likely to refer a friend or family member to work at the Department.
These figures are better than a nationwide study by the RAND Center for Quality Policing, which reported only a quarter of respondents would encourage young people to choose policing as a career.
The Polco study reported 85% of Laguna Beach police employees said staff morale in their work unit was excellent, good, or fair. By comparison, 47.5% of police union survey respondents said morale of the department was poor or in crisis.
Police union leaders also spotlighted that 72.5% of survey respondents said they definitely would or probably would leave the City for another opportunity.
“Our inability to attract and retain the best people is directly related to the quality of service that we strive to provide to our community. That’s concerning to us, and it should concern our community,” the Laguna Beach Police Employees’ Association Board of Directors said in a statement.
The union’s current agreement with Laguna Beach expires at the end of this year but negotiations haven’t started yet.
Jarrod Sadulski, a police stress researcher. and former police officer for Sunrise, Fla., said city leaders and residents should take notice of the union survey results signaling some employees are experiencing poor morale and low levels of trust in command staff.
“It impacts the quality of police services in a significant way that can have an adverse impact on the community,” Sadulski said. “Low morale causes officers to become solely reactive, instead of proactively going out actively trying to stop crime trends… because they don’t feel they have the backing of the administration and that’s bad. It’s bad for communities and correlates to increases in crime.”
There are some steps police commanders can take to mitigate low morale, including community engagement events like National Night Out, publicizing heroic or good deeds by employees, and the police chief personally contacting traumatized officers. Laguna Beach police have dabbled in all of these.
It’s also possible Laguna Beach is representative of thousands of strained police departments across the nation, Sadulski said.
“I don’t know any law enforcement agency that can boast high morale and low attrition rate,” he said.
It’s important that police commanders take this opportunity to listen to their employees, Joe Vargas, a retired Anaheim police captain and columnist for Behindthebadge.com. Whether or not the survey results are based in facts, these experiences are real for the respondents.
“There might be other dynamics outside their control that are affecting morale as well,” Vargas said. “[For example], as a police chief, I don’t control their salary that’s between labor negotiators and the City.”
In an interview with the Independent over Zoom, City Manager Shohreh Dupuis downplayed that nearly three-quarters of union survey respondents said they definitely would or probably would leave the City for another opportunity.
“I’m not really that concerned about it,” Dupuis said. “When you are part of a small police department there are not a lot of opportunities if you want to specialize. A lot of younger police officers when they go to work for a small organization they want to work for a larger organization like the Sheriff’s Department.”
“I would love for all of them to stay here and become a seasoned police officer,” Dupuis said.
Police union leaders have scrutinized Dupuis’ claims.
“We’re troubled by that statement and her lack of concern. It’s true; we do have fewer specialty positions than larger agencies, but that’s not why most people leave. Frankly, we should all be concerned when quality employees leave, regardless of the reason,” the Association’s Board of Directors said.
Dupuis also pointed out that employees’ rating of trust in the command staff could be skewed if they were previously disciplined.
Unnecessarily low morale, even if it’s only felt by a section of the Department, can have an impact on individual employees. Researchers have found officers who experience police stress endure cardiovascular conditions, marital discord, and can be at greater risk of suicide, Sadulski said.
Dupuis said the City is committed to fostering a culture of wellness and health for the police department. Among the initiatives to accomplish this goal is earmarked funding for a new police employee leadership program. City officials are still exploring what this program would look like but plan to have it in place later this year.
Councilmember George Weiss brought the public’s attention to the union survey during the Jan. 11 council meeting.
“It’s very disturbing that such a high percentage of people in our police department would leave for another job. It needs to be addressed,” Weiss said in a phone interview. “There’s also a disconnect between command staff and the rank and file where there’s half who trust and another half that’s not the case. It’s a reason for concern.”
This article is a large fabrication of the truth and fact amongst the actual members of the Laguna Beach Police Department. Show me one member who has left the police department for less pay or a demotion, it’s not happening. This article is representative of a small group of police employees who had ties to former Police Chief Thompson and will try anything to sabotage the current command staff. The objective of this article and its sources isn’t to bring people together or make the Laguna Beach Police Department stronger. It’s to undermine, divide and tarnish the character of the current command staff.
With negotiations coming this year, you have to look at the Unions survey results with a bit of skepticism. It’s never a Union’s position to support the company or city they have a contract with.
Wow! I read these two comments about an investigative research article in our local paper, and am amazed at the defensive, and somewhat aggressive, tone of these comments. I’m going to take the city’s police survey responses from Polco and the Union’s and work with some of my survey method researchers for a full comparison analysis. Give me time, but I will get it done.
How is it possible that a City Manager can basically say she doesn’t care if police leave? This is a Manager who claims she cares about residents??? What about growing our personnel so that they have a stake in caring about this community? What a callous thing to say. I’d say defensive actually. It’s her “Let them eat cake” moment. Residents – wake up. She is not on our side. I’d love to know exactly why they are unhappy. I’ve heard the department is not cohesive or supportive. And why did the last chief leave??? Smart man to get out of this mess apparently.
We should ALL be concerned about the statement regarding employee morale issues from our city manager.
“I’m not really that concerned about it,” Dupuis said.”
Frankly, it shows her inexperience as a city manager and her inability to understand and represent all employees. I’m sure the police employees who shared their feelings in the survey heard her message loud and clear. LBPD employees- residents are concerned and we don’t want continuous employee turnover.
Come now ladies, must you get your hair in a knot over every little thing, every single week? Get outside and get some sun!
Week after week, political theatre entertains the usual too much time on their hands sheeple who criticize to feel important instead of running for the offices they seek to effect.
There goes the condescending would be patricians again. Billy Fried, Chris Quilter and their group never miss an opportunity to be dismissive of those that have a genuine concern on matters Luke public safety or other matters that impact our quality of life. In reading the article about the two police surveys it looks as if Shohreh Dupuis or Sue Kempf edited some of it. Here is an example:
“Only 56% of Laguna Beach police employees said they were very or somewhat likely to recommend working for the Laguna Beach Police Department, according to the Polco study. By comparison, only 35% of union survey respondents said they were very likely to refer a friend or family member to work at the Department.
These figures are better than a nationwide study by the RAND Center for Quality Policing, which reported only a quarter of respondents would encourage young people to choose policing as a career.”
There is a complete disconnect between those two paragraphs. The first paragraph was about the likely hood of referring a friend or family member to work at the Department. Presumably they already have the training and skills for policing. The second paragraph is about encouraging young people to obtain the requisite education and training for a carrier in policing. Yet I’m sure that Dupuis and Kempf and Blake use this nonsensical conflation as an excuse to tell us the police department has excellent morale.