Americans are used to calling their local police and receiving a rapid response. Or at least they were—in some places—some of the time. A case in point is Alameda, California, which like the rest of California, is self-destructing:  

Graphic: google maps screenshot  

Like so many blue cities, Alameda has another serious problem: they can’t recruit police officers:

The Alameda, California Police Department is offering new recruits a $75,000 signing bonus – the highest in the nation – on top of a $113,654 starting salary, which is more than officers make in major cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles.  

But the department is still struggling to recruit, despite the hefty financial incentives.

That high starting salary, which most American officers would think a financial windfall, is minimal for the Bay area.

Joel Aylworth, a former San Francisco police officer, explained that the recruiting crisis is the result of an extremely high cost of living in areas that need officers and more than a decade of anti-law enforcement rhetoric.

"This has been building up for over 10 years," Aylworth said on "Fox & Friends" Friday. 

"I can remember back in Occupy Wall Street, that's like almost 15 years ago, where this anti-police, vitriolic narrative has been being pushed on and on."

Law enforcement officials have told Fox News that negative rhetoric has come from both sides of the political aisle and poses concerns for law enforcement officers everywhere, from small-town departments to FBI agents.

The cost of living, however, is actively driving potential recruits away. 

Alyworth told host Steve Doocy that his $200,000 salary wasn’t enough in San Francisco.

"I told my wife, ‘we will never be able to afford a home here’ because I just can't catch up," he said. 

Average apartment rentals in San Francisco are well over $3000 a month, running $40,000 and more a year.  

Doocy noted that California is lowering physical fitness standards and allowing non-citizens to become police officers, though this does not include illegal immigrants. 

"They’re desperate," Aylworth responded.

Graphic: Fox News screenshot

Virtually everywhere else, state laws require all police officers to be born, or naturalized, citizens.

Aylworth recalled hearing his superiors warn about the hiring crisis years ago, saying the country has to get a handle on the problem.

He said Americans are no longer motivated to become police officers.

"Instead of ‘go out and catch the bad guy,’ they're being told, ‘go move the homeless,’" he explained. "And there's so much oversight at all the departments right now from complaints to the DA that they feel very restricted. Their purpose is being diminished daily."

What Aylworth isn’t saying is standards other than physical fitness are also being lowered. Unable to find minimally qualified recruits, police agencies around the country are accepting candidates with criminal records, including drug, and driving while drunk, convictions. Blue state diversity hiring policies are also placing unqualified, even dangerous, people in uniform, as well as ensuring many of those recruits have political and sexual priorities other than fairly and uniformly enforcing the law.

During my police career I would have been tempted by Alameda’s signing bonus and beginning salary. In those days there was no such thing as a signing bonus, and there were many qualified candidates for every opening. I would have been tempted, that is, until I did a little research.

It’s often said California sets trends for the rest of America. The current trends, however, would seem to be (1) buying U Haul stock is a very good idea, and (2) going to work anywhere in California as a police officer is a very, very bad idea.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.