Dozens of recruits stretch in January while others engage in strength training and other exercises on the grounds of the Las Vegas police academy on Cheyenne Avenue. Photo by Clint Karlsen. Click image for enalrgement.

When asked about marijuana use, an applicant for the Nevada Highway Patrol told a recruiter he smoked a joint earlier that same day. He said he was anxious about the job interview and it helped him relax.

Another applicant, when asked if he ever got away with a crime, admitted he robbed a service station in Tonopah on his way to Reno for the job interview. He said he needed gas money, said Col. David Hosmer, top executive for the Highway Patrol.

While honesty is a trait police departments seek in recruits, those job seekers were among the hundreds of applicants who apply but never step foot inside an academy.

"There are not as many qualified people applying for law enforcement positions," Hosmer said. "I remember back when there were hundreds of people lining up around the corner just to get an application. It was like they were concert tickets, but not any more."

Hundreds of people who fill out applications to be officers don't show up for the initial testing. Of the 1,043 people who filled out an application for 90 openings at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Academy in April, only 200 were left after the written exam, an oral exam before a three-officer panel and a physical agility test, said Sgt. Sue Eskola, who handles recruiting for Metro.

Requirements for the physical test include doing 32 sit-ups in a minute and jogging a mile in 10 minutes and 49 seconds, she said. About half of the 200 left are expected to be disqualified during a comprehensive background check that includes a psychological evaluation and a lie-detector test.

Elaine Deck, with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, said recruiting young officers to replace retiring baby boomers has been one of the top three concerns of police departments across the country every year since the 1990s, when the federal government authorized funding to hire 100,000 new officers across the United States.

"It is a wide open market," said Ali Freeman, director of human resources for North Las Vegas. "There is a critical shortage. Every police agency in the valley needs more people."

Kimberly King, personnel officer with the state Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Highway Patrol and the state's Parole and Probation Department, said budget increases approved by the Legislature last year for salaries, guns and vehicles have helped fill vacant Highway Patrol positions, but there are openings with Parole and Probation.

"We are hiring every single person who can meet our standards," King said. "There is no waiting list. If you can meet our standards, we will not turn you away. ... We are still struggling to get positions filled and keep them filled."

Despite the likelihood of soon making more than $75,000 a year with no more education than a high school diploma, young people don't want to be police officers, said David Kallas, president of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association.

The daily responsibilities, the consequences of life-and-death decisions, the constant training requirements, working nights and weekends, the ever-changing policies on matters such as use of force, dealing with the mentally ill, diversity issues and the overall stress of the job make it unappealing, he said.

"It's so complex that when people get into the nuts and bolts of what you have to do as an officer, they just think it's not worth it," Kallas said. "Right now, you just need a high school diploma to get in, and we are having trouble. What happens when law enforcement takes the next step and says you (officers) have to have a formal education?"

The shortage comes at a time when officers in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson, or with the Las Vegas city marshals or the Highway Patrol, can make significantly more than the median household income in the Las Vegas Valley.

For example, there were 243 officers hired by those police agencies in 2000, according to database research done by the Review-Journal of 2004 payroll records from the agencies.

In four years, or the time it takes a college student to earn a bachelor's degree, the average annual total pay for those officers was $63,111.

Of the officers hired in 2000, Paul Elizondo, a corrections officer at the Clark County Detention Center, pulled down the most. His base pay in 2004 was $55,087, which represented about 51 percent of his total pay of $107,807, according to payroll records.

With more revenue available to hire new officers since the Clark County Commission raised the sales tax by a quarter-cent starting Oct. 1, police agencies in Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas have stepped up recruitment efforts that so far haven't been very fruitful, city and police administrators said.

In North Las Vegas, 600 applied last year for about 50 openings with the police department and its jail. However, there were fewer qualified finalists than there were openings once the list was pared down during the application process, Freeman said.

"You get the same people who apply here, at Metro and elsewhere around the valley. The same people go around and then come back," Freeman said. "That means that the pool (of applicants) is limited to those in the valley. Drawing from the same pool limits all the (Southern Nevada) agencies from getting all the applicants they need."

In hopes of attracting experienced officers outside Nevada, both cities and the Las Vegas police have focused recruiting efforts in Detroit and other communities that are laying off police officers in response to budgetary woes.

More than 800 applicants signed up late last year to take a preliminary written test in Henderson, but only 200 took the test, Cooper said.

So, hungry to lure new police officers, police departments around the country are offering signing bonuses of as much as $5,000 and low-interest home loans. Others are offering current officers a week off with pay if they recruit a friend who is later hired by the department.