Seattle Unsuccessfully Poaches NY Cops

The New York Sun reports that Seattle has been aggressively recruiting New York cops to join their own force. Though a Seattle PD spokesman told the Sun that "in reality, we were targeting graduates from John Jay College," their strategy suggests a more sweeping effort: Seattle put recruitment ads in several City bus shelters and a billboard on the West Side Highway. And in April the SPD offered qualifying tests at NYU -- though the New York Daily News then reported that, of the 200 New Yorkers who signed up, only 20 were current officers.

The SPD website touts life in Seattle, too: "Imagine a city where the weather is mild year round, and you are surrounded everywhere you turn by breathtaking natural scenery. A city that has a sense of place and uniqueness... Now imagine that you actually call this place 'home.'"

Perhaps of more interest to our cops, who even with their recently proposed raises are ill-paid compared to officers in other cities, is the salary page: an SPD officer starts at $57,503.52 a year, while under the new contract terms a freshly-sworn City cop gets $41,975.

Still, the Sun reports, the NYU tests yielded only 69 passing grades, with 28 of the candidates qualifying for background checks. The number of these candidates who are currently serving on the local force is unknown.