I share a basic, unwavering belief that every Arizonan has the right to live in safety. Overall, Arizona continues to be a safe place to work, live and play, and that is due to your efforts everyday. I know this doesn't happen by accident. It is because of good police work, stronger punishments and smarter prevention.

I look forward to continuing to work with you on issues that include:

• Identity theft. This crime is a high priority in my office. We are working with local, state and national police agencies targeting and arresting organized rings that create false documents and instruments.
• Meth. As first responders, you understand the danger. I am thankful for your support last year in the precursor legislation, and I'm going back in 2006 to ask the Legislature to strengthen the law adopted during the last session.
• Immigrant smuggling/Coyote Violence. These criminals are a menace to our communities. Besides putting the immigrants in danger, they endanger our public safety personnel and neighborhoods. The Attorney General's office pioneered the disruption of coyote violence through seizure of money in transit through money transmitters and will continue to work with you on this problem.
• Body Armor issues. We will continue to monitor the Zylon Vest safety issues. It is unacceptable for public safety personnel to have inadequate equipment available for their use. This is truly a matter of life and death. We will continue to keep you updated on this issue as we learn more.

Regardless of how safe we are today, your jobs continue to get harder. I am committed to maintaining a close working relationship with law enforcement and want to be of assistance whenever possible. Last year, I created a law enforcement advisor position in my office. Tim Black, a retired member of the Phoenix Police Department, holds this position, and you can contact him directly at 602-542-7768.

I want to thank you for your commitment to our communities.

Terry Goddard

Christian Science Monitor Describes Police Recruiting As Being In Crisis Mode

From The Christian Science Monitor, January 23, 2006

HOUSTON, TX – It seems that police work - the ho-hum "protect and serve" variety once glamorized in the 1970s and '80s on TV shows like "Adam-12," "CHiPs," and "Hill Street Blues" - went out with wide lapels. The result is a major shortage of police recruits - which has reached crisis proportions in some cities - and fewer cops on the street than top brass say are needed for public protection. The problem has several sources: low pay, a big hole left by retiring baby boomers, and an image problem that steers the few young people who are interested in law-enforcement careers toward crime-scene investigation and forensics, rather than everyday street patrols. To remedy the manpower shortage, some law-enforcement agencies are getting creative. They are giving new recruits help with down payments on homes and, for experienced officers in other locales, they are offering signing bonuses for switching to a new city. They're even encouraging their own officers to find new recruits in exchange for extra vacation time. "I haven't been to a place in this country where agencies aren't concerned about the number and quality of their officers," says Elaine Deck, who studies recruitment issues for the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Alexandria, Va. The shortage has made officer retention a top concern of police departments, most of which report they are 10 percent shy of the numbers they need, she says. Law-enforcement agencies say the consequences are slower emergency-response times and backlogs in criminal cases. In an aggressive move to get more boots on the ground, the Houston Police Department wants to offer $7,000 signing bonuses to any police officer who moves here and completes a 12-week modified training academy. The idea is to lure experienced officers from other Texas law-enforcement agencies, so the city won't have to spend as much time training them. In return, the relocated officers will receive financial credit for up to five years of experience elsewhere - something that is not typically done. The proposal came before a city council committee last week and hasn't yet been set for a full vote. The department hopes to train 70 "lateral" officers - those with experience in other Texas agencies - in March. "I can't ever remember having a full lateral class, but we are already getting inquiries," says Craig Ferrell Jr., the department's general counsel, who says lateral classes average between 25 and 35 officers. At the San Diego County Sheriff's Department in California, officials say such incentives are working. Down 10 percent on its staffing earlier this year, the department tripled its advertising budget and began offering signing bonuses of up to $5,000. "It's starting to pick up. The incentives are helping," says Lt. Mike Barletta in the department's personnel division. "What we are actually doing is robbing nearby agencies of their people." The recruiting has left some hard feelings at nearby agencies, but the sheriff's department's ad campaign is helping overall recruitment in the area by promoting law enforcement as a desirable career, he says. The San Diego County department, like many agencies nationwide, began to see the number of recruits fall in the 1990s, but the drop-off became a crisis only in the past few years as retirements increased. Lieutenant Barletta, for his part, also blames the media, which he says began to demonize police officers after the Rodney King beating by Los Angeles police officers in 1991. "The glamour was taken off the job, and people began to think that all cops were bad," he says. "Who would want to put up with that?" To try to make law enforcement an appealing career again, agencies across the nation are resorting to advertising campaigns. Others are changing physical agility tests to more accurately reflect the kind of work their officers do. Some are streamlining the recruiting process to put officers on the streets faster. Some analysts ask, though, if such efforts will yield many recruits among a generation of young people with different ideas about work. "Those of us who began working in the 1960s and '70s live to work. Our identity is wrapped up in what we do," says Ms. Deck. "Young people today work to live. They are more concerned about spending time with family and friends." That means working late or on weekends is less acceptable. The average starting salary, $32,000 a year, is another deterrent - especially as the economy picks back up. "Police work, like patrolling, is dangerous, and the pay is too low," says Brittaney Riojas, a bubbly junior at Houston's High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. Like many of her fellow students who have grown up in the computer age, Brittaney doesn't find old-fashioned police work very exciting. She wants to do crime-scene investigations. "Shows like 'CSI,' 'Without a Trace,' 'Numb3rs,' they make it seem so interesting," she says. Aaron Najera, a junior, is one of the few at the magnet school interested in traditional policing. Given the staffing shortages, he doesn't expect to have a problem getting a police job here when he turns 21. "Since I was a kid, I've wanted to be a superhero who went around helping people. I figure the closest thing to that is a police officer."

It's a great time to live in Arizona.

Our economy is good, our schools are improving, and we have a Governor who is working hard to improve law enforcement efforts in the State. Gov. Napolitano is tough on crime and has been for years, dating back to her time as U. S. Attorney for Arizona, where she presided over tough drug cases and other federal criminal prosecutions. She really did listen to us when she was Attorney General for our state. She worked to get laws passed to make it a crime for pedophiles to lure children over the Internet for sex. She put hardcore, lifelong criminals such as Sammy "The Bull" Gravano behind bars, and made identity theft, abuse of senior citizens, and child abuse her top concerns. She even worked to help provide us with funding for things that wouldn't cross a civilian's mind, such as bulletproof vests. She found money from the AG's RICO, or anti-racketeering fund, to pay for law enforcement departments across Arizona to purchase these life-saving vests for their officers. After police officers were killed or severely burned in fires in their police cars, then-Attorney General Napolitano took on Ford Motor Company, threatening to sue the automaker if they didn't make improvements to the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor to prevent the fuel tanks from bursting into flames when hit. She did not back down. She got Ford to pay for retrofitting of these cars to make them safer for officers, and today, our standard law enforcement Crown Victoria vehicles better protect the officers who drive them. Things have changed for the better since Governor Napolitano became our state's leader. She knows what we go through, day in and day out as police officers. We are dealing with a population explosion in most of our communities, and can't always keep up with the resources we need to fight crime. Yet, she works tirelessly to help get us get the tools we need to help us do our jobs. She wants tougher laws against pedophiles and other sex offenders, and she wants the legislature to allocate more funds to hire the personnel and staff to go after criminals. She is mindful of the Department of Public Safety's need for better pay, and to retain officers and is fighting for raises for DPS officers. She wants to provide better resources to the DPS crime lab, and establish a lab in Southern Arizona. A regional lab in the southern part of the state frees up the main facility in Phoenix to process cases from central Arizona and the east Valley more quickly. Gov. Napolitano wants to set aside even more funds to help these agencies hire additional officers, so they can patrol their neighborhoods and fight crimes associated with illegal immigration. Over the summer, she declared an emergency at the border to free up state dollars for local communities at the border. Ask any law enforcement agency whether it can use more dollars and personnel to go after suspects, and the answer you hear will always be yes. We applaud Janet Napolitano for what she has done for us, and support her initiatives to keep Arizona safe.