LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Those driving along Sahara Avenue between I-15 and Las Vegas Boulevard may have noticed a billboard incentivizing drivers with pay as high as $90,000 to become an Arizona State Trooper.
“Knowing that the eyes of the world are there in Las Vegas and being such a close neighbor there are a lot of benefits for our community there in Las Vegas and trying to recruit them over to Arizona,” Public Information Officer for the Arizona State Troopers Raul Garcia explained.
Recruiting is a problem for every police department in the country explained Nevada Police Union President Trooper Dan Gordon.
“It’s a problem throughout the country it’s not just state agencies. Some may pay better but they’re having issues in recruiting,” he said. Trooper Gordon is a 16-year veteran with the Nevada State Police.
These state agencies play a crucial role in keeping drivers safe on the road with their main job being traffic enforcement and crash investigations.
Gordon added that agencies such as Arizona advertising in Nevada are nothing new as Nevada hosts recruitment events in Arizona.
“Pay seems to be one of the things a lot of people see the attraction to go elsewhere but the area they are going to may be unfamiliar,” he said.
Last year 112 Troopers left Nevada State Police, and currently, they need to fill about 100 open positions.
On July 1, a 23% pay increase for Nevada State Police went into effect.
Raising the starting pay from about $45,000 a year to $60,000. That same Trooper in Arizona starts at $65,382.72.
It’s a dramatic increase that helps bring Nevada closer to the same level as other agencies, but no matter what side of the state line you’re on the shortage remains a problem.
Both sides told 8 News Now they work well together.
