A Bay Area city offered $75,000 bonus to lure new cops. Other departments try to keep up

JUST FIVE MONTHS ago, Alameda Police Chief Nishant Joshi faced a dire staffing crisis. Almost one third of the 88 sworn positions in his department were vacant, giving him 24 jobs to fill as quickly as possible.

He wasn’t alone in that predicament. Many California police departments have reported serious hiring challenges in a persistently tight labor market over the past several years.