It's been no great secret that the San Diego Police Department has a staffing problem on its hands.  One, more and more officers are approaching retirement age.   Two, newly trained rookies are being wooed to smaller departments in the county as soon as they are out of the police academy.

The San Diego Sheriff's and the National City PD are among those who are offering signing bonuses and better pay.

Today, sources close to the SDPD says their already bad problem seems to have taken a turn for the worse.

The number of officers leaving the department on a monthly basis is nearly three times what it was four years ago, they said.  Nearly 30 officers have left in this year's third quarter alone.

Document say that while the department expected attrition, they figured it would come at about nine officers per month.  As it stands, the in-real-time figures has roughly 14.5 departures per month.

Unless things change roughly 174 officers will have left by the time the year is over; when you contrast that with the 172 officers the SDPD is authorized to hire each year, the city is looking at a net loss of two.   It also means that all the money that's being spent to recruit and train new officers is being thrown down out the window.

Higher ups in the San Diego Police Department say they are looking for ways to reverse this trend.  Not only are they looking at increasing police academy class sizes, they are also looking into adding additional perks into the compensation package.

The City Council said they'll evaluate these recommendations later this month.