Matthew Casey/KJZZ

Interim Phoenix police Chief Michael Sullivan.

To help confront a chronic shortage of officers, Phoenix recently made its police department the highest-paid law enforcement agency in Arizona.

Another strategy for keeping department ranks full is holding onto the most experienced and well-trained officers.

Interim Chief Michael Sullivan said the key is working conditions such as modern facilities, reliable vehicles and well-functioning systems.

“Those types of things need to be improved to be able to make sure that we retain folks,” he said.

Sullivan said his department’s staffing problem did not happen suddenly and fixing it will take time.