The Wyoming sheriff who is advertising his open deputy jobs with a billboard in the heart of Denver is being inundated with messages from potential new hires.
Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak, based in Cheyenne, said he’s heard from about 100 “contacts” or prospective hires in the past 24 hours since Cowboy State Daily reported on the billboard in a story that was picked up across the nation.
Many of those are already registered police officers in other states, rather than people just looking to enter the profession, Kozak told Cowboy State Daily at midday Wednesday.
Only 10% are cops from Denver, which prompted a laugh from Kozak, as his office’s decision to plaster a jobs advertisement on a billboard in downtown Denver prompted the deluge of contacts.
Well, the Cowboy State Daily story of the billboard going viral also prompted the deluge, Kozak said.
Bearing a smiling photo of four sheriff’s deputies, the billboard casts Wyoming as a place where people treasure law and order. It reads: “Work in Wyoming, where breaking the law is STILL ILLEGAL & cops are funded!”
Kozak told Cowboy State Daily the billboard’s funding reference is because of Denver slashing its police department by $8.4 million last month to address the sanctuary city’s migrant crisis.
Mayor Bristles
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s office countered in a public statement sent Wednesday to Cowboy State Daily.
“The city of Denver’s adjustment to the Denver Police Department’s budget was carefully crafted with safety leaders and Mayor Johnston to ensure there would be no impact to the department’s public services,” says the statement, which supplies the bold emphasis. “To say that Denver is ‘defunding the police’ is a willful mischaracterization of the budget reductions.”
The reductions delay the purchase of new furniture and shift the funding source for one cadet class, the statement says, adding that Johnston has invested millions of dollars to add 167 new police recruits to the force this year and “will continue to invest in public safety to ensure every Denverite is safe in their city.”
Johnston told the media last week that diverting city money into programs to help “newcomers,” or migrants, is about authorizing more of them to get jobs, and also services.
“This is going to better serve the migrants that come into the city,” he said, adding that businesses wanting to hire them are frustrated at delays or lack in migrants’ work authorization.
“This helps resolve that by getting people access to work, protecting city budgets and making sure we can get newcomers access to services.”
All The Money
Attached to statement and attributed to the Denver Police Department is a chart comparing wages at the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office versus the DPD.
For example, an LCSO corporal earns between $64,531 and $89,053, whereas a Denver detective/corporal earns $116,562 annually, according to the chart.
The Denver lieutenants earn at least $39,000 more annually, the chart says.
“Being a much larger department, Denver Police officers have significantly greater opportunities to promote,” says the police statement. “DPD is authorized for 284 detectives, 233 sergeants and 54 lieutenants. Not sure how many LCSO has.”
The DPD statement highlights a perceived irony:
“It’s also interesting that LCSO touts Denver in its own recruiting materials stating, ‘Adventure awaits you in the Rocky Mountains or the bustling city of Denver, each within an hour's drive.’”
While the DPD points out its officers make more money, it doesn’t account for the cost-of-living increase between Cheyenne and Denver, which is 13% higher overall in Denver, according to Forbes.
According to the Forbes cost-of-living calculator, an equivalent salary for a Cheyenne police corporal in Denver would be $102,918. While health care expenses are lower in Denver, housing costs are 51% higher in the Mile High City.
But This Is Wyoming
Kozak said he believes that with Wyoming’s generally lower cost of living, the state’s lack of income tax, the complete absence of union dues (or unions) in the state’s police force, agents on the northern side of the state line have “more money in their pocket” at the end of the day.
But to some agents, any money differences are notwithstanding, he said, pointing again to Colorado’s abolition of qualified immunity and Denver’s ban on police stops for minor traffic infractions.
“The money might be higher in other areas,” he said. “But it’s the quality of life and the ability to do your job is what makes people happy.”
Going Viral
The billboard’s story went worldwide, Kozak said, adding that readers have reached out from African countries and Japan to compliment the tactic.
A few Denver-area sheriff’s personnel also called to compliment the Cheyenne office, believing the billboard could influence policy-makers in Denver and Colorado to implement more protections for police officers, Kozak said.
Contact Clair McFarland at clair@cowboystatedaily.com
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
