If all the other Bay Area police departments offer similar compensation and benefits, as seems to be the case, SF will have a hard time finding new recruits at

If all the other Bay Area police departments offer similar compensation and benefits, as seems to be the case, SF will have a hard time finding new recruits at lower pay. So it's impossible to tell if it is a demand or supply issue. The first thing you would want to look at is the number of applicants. This is very similar to the issue with CEO compensation - high pay at competitors just encourages even higher pay with little to contain it. I wonder if they use the same consultants to justify ever increasing pay and benefits.