The year was 1999 and Baltimore police commanders were tired of seeing empty patrol cars sitting on lots as crime was spiraling out of control. The two chiefs of patrol put pen to paper and wrote a memo that for once owned up to the harsh reality:

It said staffing was "inadequate at best" and warned that "no shift, will, in the future, hit the streets without the required manpower to cover all posts." The commanders authorized overtime pay to fill the slots.

At that time, the force's strength was 3,188 officers (today it's 3,071) and police commanders were quick to criticize their underlings: "They are personnel managers," one colonel told me then. "They have to work around these obstacles and earn their money."

Countered the police union president at the time: "You can't have a job that requires 20 police officers, give commanders 10 and then blame them for not getting the job done."

It's a battle that is waged in virtually every job across the country. Only ones involving police involve public safety. And the cop who risked his career to take me out to show low staffing levels this week demonstrated just how bad it is. This cop jumped from call to call, often falling behind "in-progess" calls that ordinarily would require immediate response.

Police have tried all sorts of things to increase staffing. One commissioner even put two cops in every patrol car, introducing the old concept of "partners" for the very first time in Baltimore, but that experiment was short-lived when millions of dollars of overtime money ran out. Now the city doesn't even have enough overtime money to staff all the cars it needs with one officer.

Police say they are only 15 officers down and that will change when the next academy class begins next month. Back in 1998, police had 200 openings but also had another 200 officers out on long-term medical leave. If the numbers city police are giving me are correct, they've solve that problem. But each district still has officers out on sick leave, suspension, vacation, military duty, etc. That's how you get empty patrol cars while still being "fully staffed."

But no matter how bad it seems now, the past is worse. In 1999, the comander of the Northeastern District on Argonne Drive shut his station to the public from midnight to 7 a.m., putting up a sign directing people to a payphone if they needed to call 911. Interesting, because in the district I visited this week, the commander did call two cops in on overtime to help fill spots, but one of those officers had to work the desk.

I heard this from a police officer this morning: