The new year is off to a rough start for the understaffed San Jose Police Department. New figures reveal a large number of officers left the force recently, including some key members of the police academy.
The recent departures indicate things may only get tougher both for short-term and long-term staffing at the department.
Police union officials said since the beginning of December, six officers retired and eight resigned from SJPD.
San Jose police now currently have 894 active full-duty cops -- not counting officers on disability or limited duty. The department once boasted a staff that once topped 1,400 officers.
Union leaders said the most devastating loss from the recent departures are two police academy drill instructors who officially quit on Friday in the midst of an ongoing academy class.
"The best and the brightest officers go out to our academies to train them," Police Officers Association President Paul Kelly said. "If we can't even keep 'them' here at the police department -- what's next?"
The police department confirmed the loss of officers, but said the two instructors were not responsible for leading the current academy class.
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New Mayor Sam Liccardo, who made police staffing a priority in his campaign, said he was disappointed, but not discouraged.
"We've got work to do on both ensuring that we can get enough officers in the academy that are going to be able to help us staff up, and to ensure we create compensation structures that will attract those officers to the academy," Liccardo said.
