Many Cops Do Not Live in The Cities They Police, Should They?

MSG(P) Michael Warrick — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 11:38:00 -0400

The August 9 shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown by Ferguson police, and subsequent shooting of another black male by white police only miles away in St. Louis has raised a number of questions about how police relate to the communities they serve.

U.S. Census data shows that many urban police do not live where they work, and a majority of those opting for the suburbs are white cops. Would forcing those cops to live where they work change how they behave on the job?

What are your thoughts to this subject?

Response by MSG Wade Huffman made Aug 24 at 2014 1:22 PM

MSG Wade Huffman — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 13:22:46 -0400

Many cities in Ohio had such rules, known as 'Homestead' rules, to include Dayton. Several years ago, those rules were determined to be unconstitutional. The rules originally required that any municipal employee live in the municipality for which they worked.
The ruling stated, in a nutshell, that while an employer can require that certain employees be able to report to their place of duty within a specific time frame (only when their job directly required a short response time), that was the only limitation an employer can make on where an employee can or can not live.
If these homestead laws were brought back, I think it would just make it harder to find qualified LEOs for those municipalities.

Response by SSgt John Paul Furman made Sep 6 at 2014 2:42 PM

SSgt John Paul Furman — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 14:42:51 -0400

I work as an Officer in an upper middle class suburb outside Chicago. I just built a house in a community that is approximately 20 minutes south of where I work, which is an extra 20 minutes south of Chicago. The extra 20 minutes travel time from the city makes a difference. It would have cost me at least an extra $75,000 to build the same house I have now in the community I work in. I'm a cop, my wife is a teacher. Nobody takes either of those two jobs to become rich. I even gave up the use of a take home squad car to move out here. It was a nice perk, but not even the nicest of cars is worth an extra 75 G's on a mortgage! I made the decision for a better future for my family. How can anyone fault me for that? Ultimately it doesn't affect the service I provide to the community, so I don't see how it matters. Being a local cop isn't a like serving the federal government. I don't think it's fair to place any type of resident requirement in place so long as they officer can make it to work in a reasonable amount of time should an emergency arise.