The promise of higher wages and better pension and healthcare benefits in non-University agencies is drawing University Police Department officers away from GW, University officials said.

We’re losing some top-quality people, UPD Director Dolores Stafford said.

Within the last two years, at least four officers left UPD to accept law enforcement positions in Fairfax, Arlington, Mount Vernon and the FBI, Stafford said.

One officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he is one of many current UPD officers exploring options with other police departments.

I’m here right now because of the educational benefits, he said. When I’m done with that, I’m out of here.

A spokesman with Metropolitan Police Department, Ofc. Kevin Johnson, said his agency is not turning away UPD officers.

We’re still hiring, he said.

Johnson said police officers from university campuses are strong candidates for positions within the agency because they have similar duties as Metropolitan Police officers.

(UPD officers) are serving in a law enforcement capacity, he said. There are many things that are similar.

A UPD officer has the duties of a regular officer, but can’t write tickets, Stafford said.

Losing officers to state- and federal-run agencies is not a problem unique to GW.

Across the nation police departments have more openings than they can fill, Johnson said. He said the number of police job openings has risen recently while police academy enrollments have remained the same.

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 created the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Universal Hiring Program, which included a grant to put more than 100,000 new law-enforcement personnel on the street, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Some communities that received grant money from the program cannot find officers to fill the new positions, Ciccone said.

The Bergen County Sheriff’s Department in New Jersey received a COPS grant and is considering recruiting officers from colleges such as Rutgers, the department’s sheriff said.

University officers do not hold the title of police officer and generally receive lower pay than in non-University positions, said Joseph L. Ciccone, sheriff of Bergen County, N.J. Police officers usually earn more money and have better pension benefits than university police, but do not receive educational benefits, such as free classes, he said.

Ciccone said he hopes to draw university police to his agency.

University police officers have some qualities valuable to his department that other officers might not have, Ciccone said.

This department would be very interested in retaining a college or university’s police officers since they are already trained to work with a younger population, he said.

Ciccone said university police need to take a civil service test and attend a police academy to qualify for higher pay and different benefits as an officer in a county agency.

Stafford said no matter how many officers other agencies hire from her agency, she doesn’t foresee any major staffing problems.

We have enough officers. We’re not short staffed at all, she said. Periodically, we lose officers but we find replacements.