For years, Nevada State Police have had issues staffing our roads.
The Nevada Police Union says this shortage is making proactive enforcement go down on the roads and they say it's leading to an increase in speeding and crashes.
If a major crash were to happen, NSP may have three or four units go to the scene, but when something like that happens, it means there's no coverage on the rest of the area.
"Our resources are being sucked, with what could be one incident," said Dan Gordon, President, Nevada Police Union.
For NSP, ideally, they would like to have around 400 State Troopers.
However, that number is based on a study in the early 2000s.
Gordon says that number should be doubled due to the growth in Nevada, but getting to that 400 is already a tough hill to climb.
"It would make a significant difference, but we're not even at half that right now," Gordon said.
To paint the picture on where staffing currently stands, Reno is supposed to have around 60 troopers patrolling the roads. Right now, they have about 25.
Carson is supposed to have 20, but they have less than 10.
120 troopers are expected for Las Vegas, and there's only 50.
So, it's about less than 50 percent for most of the state for patrol duties.
Gordon says if they could close the gap, the roads would be much safer.
"If we would have adequate staffing, if we were out there and able to do proactive enforcement, I absolutely think our roads would be safer and our fatalities and our crashes would decrease," he said.
So, why is NSP having a hard time hiring folks? They say most of it come down to the dollar.
"Our guys can cross the street to a different agency and make 25 to 30 percent more take-home pay," Gordon said.
The key is that take home pay.
The Public Employees' Retirement System requires both the employee and employer to contribute equally to retirement.
That PERS will increase for NSP starting July 1, making troopers have about 30 percent of their paycheck go to their retirement.
While this will be beneficial once the troopers retire, the current conditions do make things difficult.
"With the cost-of-living increase going through the roof here in northern Nevada, it makes it very difficult for our younger guys to find housing that's affordable," Gordon said.
Gordon says there's a law where the state does not have to pay the retirement contributions for state employees.
He says they are hoping legislators in Carson can get something done to help this issue.
