Many FBI agents based in cities with a high cost of living are struggling to make ends meet, forcing them to make hours-long commutes or double up in apartments, according to bureau and Justice Department officials.

Natalie Bara, president of the FBI Agents Association, said she’s heard from two or three agents sharing an apartment near New York City, and others who commute four hours each day, back and forth to their field offices. Some circumstances are even more extreme, she added.

“They’re having to juggle being able to afford rent and/or utilities versus being able to actually buy groceries, so it’s getting to a level where it’s becoming very, very difficult to not only recruit agents into these high cost of living areas, but also retain them in those areas,” said Bara, who is a second-generation FBI agent.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I just… I don’t… do I feel bad for cops when they can’t afford houses either?

    This one is a hard one, but I kind of fall on the side of empathy here…

    • FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Everyone should deserve a home. Maybe that home should be a cell if you’re a racist power tripping murderer, but if you out here genuinely trying to protect your community/country, you deserve a home.

      • bean@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        And full healthcare, especially for rural volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians, many of them are volunteers. They deserve to be protected and treated fully by the services they put their lives on the line to provide for.

        • FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Some even have to pay for their training and their equipment. I get needing barriers for entry to dangerous positions but that feels like an economic barrier for an essential service.

    • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      Apparently this has to be explained since many people are making this mistake: FBI agents are not cops. They are investigators. They investigate crimes. They don’t sit around eating donuts or drive around a local “beat”.

      They are the main organization investigating hate crimes and all those Jan 6 nuts. They didn’t arrest your friend for a joint back in 2015.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Can they arrest people accused of committing crimes? Yes. They’re cops. They’re just not city cops.

    • blackbelt352@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I might not feel as bad for them, they certainly made their choice of career to be cops, but at the end of the day its the institutions under capitalsim that hurt us the most, the individuals are just tools of the system, if Billy-bob McOfficer quits being a cop, Randall DiCopper will be there to replace them and the system continues.

      And even though they are cops, they are also human beings too, also caught up in an abusive and exploitative system.

    • TOModera@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      They were subject to the same propaganda we all were and no one is immune, so yes, feeling empathy is OK.

      Also there is a huge potential problem when you give a group lots of power and then under pay them. They are a lot easier to bribe.

  • GingaNinga@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    thats gonna be a national security issue at some point, financials are important in vulnerable sector checks. just pay your guys a decent wage, thats what work is for unless the whole social contract thing is breaking down.

  • TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    7 months ago

    Maybe they’ll do something about rent when the pigs need it?

    Ah, who am I kidding? They’ll get a raise and the rest of us can drown.

  • foggy@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Cops are supposed to be the line between the haves and the have-nots, sociologically speaking. They exist to enforce the rules of the haves upon the have-nots to keep the two separate.

    If the line falls into have-not territory, the rich get eaten.

    If I pay you handsomely to punch strangers in the face, you have a price. But at a certain price you’d opt to punch me in the face instead.

    • FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I worry that if captiallism continues too far the elites will control police forces by giving them just enough to feel wealthy and forcing them to oppress those with less by threatening their livelihood if they don’t.

      • snooggums@midwest.social
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        7 months ago

        Right now they are given the power to abuse everyone else in lieu of pay, so we are basically at that same point but with other incentives.

  • Patches@sh.itjust.works
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    7 months ago

    Financial Problems are one of the biggest indicator for trouble when dealing with Security Clearances.

    Very easy decision for someone to ‘share’ documents they shouldn’t if it means making rent, or paying their doctor, or not going hungry.

    That’s why any job with a clearance should make stacks. But here we are…

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    7 months ago

    Oh no, they are in the same financial situation as everyone else!

    Won’t someone think of the poor authoritatians?

  • RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com
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    7 months ago

    Man, I’m glad that’s only a problem for FBI agents and not the rest of the people. Imagine if all of us needed housing and that other thing I used to like… what was its name again? Food?

  • Chee_Koala@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Maybe they just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and lay off the Mocca Frappe Latte’s?

  • phoneymouse@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Government pay is garbage. If you’re lucky enough to find a job that gets you to GS-13 you might crack $100 grand. And in most cities, that isn’t enough anymore.