PHOENIX, AZ — On one of Arizona's many highways — sometimes in a sea of cars — you may have noticed one vehicle missing: a trooper's car. That's as the Department of Public Safety (DPS), the agency in charge of Arizona's highways, says it's facing its worst staffing crisis ever.
"Without us recruiting and hiring new troopers, I don't know if we're going to be able to man the freeways in Phoenix and Tucson," warned Jeffrey Hawkins, president of Arizona State Troopers Association, the group that advocates on behalf of state troopers.
In the western U.S., Hawkins says Arizona is the only state that does not have 24-hour coverage from its state troopers.
He adds that morale has taken a severe hit, with even more troopers quitting due to not getting time off or repeatedly having to cancel plans for time away. Their departures from the department have only exacerbated a problem that has been growing for years.
As a result of those departures and the existing staffing issues, the public's safety may be compromised in some cases, Hawkins said.
"It's tough for me as someone that's in a leadership position to open my emails every Monday to see how many people have died on our roadways every weekend," he said. "Sometimes it's nine, 10, 11: and I can directly relate that to not seeing anybody on the road."
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While many troopers have been assigned to longer-term projects like investigations, currently only about 480 troopers are assigned to highway patrol, covering 6,800 linear miles of highway in Arizona. DPS is now looking to fill about 500 positions.
On the days and nights when staffing is more strained, DPS has had to rely on other law enforcement agencies to serve Arizona as emergencies pop up. That has forced DPS to rely on other agencies where shortages are also rampant, but Hawkins pointed out that he knew of no other agency "that's looking at the percentage of vacancies that we're looking at, and with the responsibility of an entire state."
If the shortage gets worse, Hawkins says they'll be forced to take more troopers off the roads, a decision he believes could impact already difficult cartel and money laundering cases the department is working on.
"We're bleak," he admitted. "If I can say 'bleak,' it's the bleakest it's ever been."
What does "bleak" look like in Arizona? Hawkins says 13 of the state's 15 counties no longer have DPS service 24 hours a day. Particularly in the early hours of the morning, between late night and early morning shifts, there's no one on the highways to attend to emergencies.
"Something happens and you see a drunk driver, you see a wrong-way driver, you get in a crash or you're injured, we have to wake somebody up to put his uniform back on and drive out to you," Hawkins said, adding that in that case, it would likely be more than an hour until a trooper reaches the caller's location.
While staffing shortages are affecting law enforcement agencies nationwide, Arizona's DPS may be among the worst, Hawkins said. He says Arizona is the only state without a dedicated trooper training academy, and it currently has just one classroom to train troopers.
Hawkins, and others hoping to get Arizona's highway patrol units back up to a normal level, say the best way to do so is by making pay match the level of risk the job requires. Surrounding states have recently raised pay for their troopers: California gave its troopers a raise of 14.1% over the course of two years, New Mexico offered an 11% raise, and Nevada approved a 23% raise.
Already facing a major staffing shortage, DPS must now also deal with a renewed problem in the world of politics. Arizona politicians are currently wading through negotiations in the face of a $1.7 billion budget deficit, and many state agencies are bracing for potential cuts.
Hawkins said he's calling on previous supporters of law enforcement to once again advocate for more funding, and he hopes Governor Katie Hobbs will do the same: "They have to make a substantive investment in us, or I can't even give you an estimate on what's going to happen, because we're currently in an area we've never been in in the existence of the agency."
Hobbs told ABC15 last week that she was in communication with DPS about how to fill the open positions. While staying nonspecific about details, Hobbs has already granted an exception to allow DPS to keep trying to hire troopers.
If you're interested in becoming a DPS trooper, you are required to be at least 21 years old, a U.S. citizen with a high school diploma/GED and valid driver's license, and can have no felony convictions. More details are available here.
