The exodus from California hasn’t quite reached biblical proportions, but it’s getting close.
Prominent among those leaving the formerly Golden State is a class of citizen an intelligent leadership would most want to keep: Law enforcement officers.
The convulsive protests honoring St. George Floyd and attacking police officers have a lingering cost, long after the smell of burning buildings and the re-sale of looted electronics is gone.
Fox News reports, "Cities large and small across the country suffered severe staffing shortages on the heels of anti-police protests in 2020.
"Four years later, some departments still can’t stop the bleeding. . . . Earlier this year in California, the Alameda Police Department offered a $75,000 signing bonus — the highest in the nation — on top of a six-figure starting salary to try to entice new officers."
Police officers have abandoned California where many in the public hate them, most of the media holds them in contempt and the politicians they work for will abandon them at the first whiff of a bad cellphone video.
Their destination?
More than a few are applying for law enforcement jobs in Idaho.
These police officers are making significant financial sacrifices.
Their goal is to offset monetary losses with a working environment that encourages enforcing the law and political leadership that isn’t a bunch of closet Marxists.
"An officer joining the Coeur d’Alene Idaho Police Department could expect to make between $63,000 and $89,000 per year before overtime, according to a recent job posting.
"The range is larger for the Idaho State Patrol, starting at about $48,000 per year but going up to nearly $103,000."
That’s only part of the sacrifice. Many are also foregoing lucrative California pensions that require at least 20 years on the job before it vests in favor of lower Idaho pensions where their retirement clock will be reset to zero.
And, before they can take to the street, the officers must go through the police academy again and start their new jobs as the seniority equivalent of rookies.
That’s worth it according to Seth Horst a former California Highway Patrol trooper who moved to Coeur d’Alene and went into real estate, "The district attorney doesn't back them, there's too much liability, so the department won't let them enforce the law, which is their job," Horst said. "And that bugs a lot of people."
"They get a job up here, oftentimes taking a huge pay cut because the pay here does not compare to a lot of states," he added. "But it's worth it to them to raise their families in a place that is safe and has those old-school values."
California urban areas are a dumpster fire for a reason.
A frivolous, ideologically-driven political class has encouraged disorder and crime by discouraging the forces of order and safety.
It’s a reckless, feckless governing philosophy that is morally and intellectually bankrupt.
The only beneficiaries are the good citizens of Idaho.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now With Added Humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.