Law enforcement agencies sound the alarm on what they describe as critically low staffing.The Douglas County Sheriff's Office said it negotiated a new contract to try and combat losses to other agencies.Meantime, the Omaha police union said it's expecting a record number of officers to leave at the end of the year."We need to hit the panic button now,” said Tony Conner, Omaha Police union president.Conner said Omaha police will be down 100 officers come January.“We're starting to see officers leave in seven years, nine years, 10 years. Something that we've never seen before. This is in my 22-year career. We've never seen this before. So, we're at a very unprecedented time,” Conner said.Conner said the pandemic plays a part, as does a nationwide anti-police movement.More so locally, there's the issue of pay.He said the private sector pays more and so do surrounding cities like Des Moines.“They make about $25,000 more starting than Omaha and there’s less crime,” Conner said. “I think it's time for the city to have a serious conversation about more investment in law enforcement to ensure that we can keep the public safe.”He said it could lead to officers being pulled out of detective bureaus to return to the streets.Conner believes that may impact crime rates."We have a very low crime rate and that's not by accident," he said.Conner said officers may spend more time running call to call and less time making connections in the community.Plus, veteran officers leaving means a younger force.“They have the years of understanding how to de-escalate, because they're the veterans that show up on these on these calls to keep things calm. So, we're not in the media. We're not we're not doing things wrong. You don't want to see that experience walk out the door,” he said.The city of Omaha budgets 178.4 million for the police department.In Douglas County, a new contract between the board and sheriff's office aims to help recruit and retain deputies."There’s a $5 raise the first year across the board for everyone on the department. Then a percent increase the second and third year. It comes up to a 21% pay increase over three years. That's never been done in any contract that I know of on my 28 years in law enforcement,” said Chief Deputy Wayne Hudson, with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.Both agencies said they face record-low numbers of quality applicants.The sheriff's office said in its last class, recruits failing the academy put the department in a pinch.“We were looking at filling ten positions. So, we have filled all 10 positions. Those individuals were in the academy through physical and through some testing we are now down to four,” Hudson said.Hudson said the sheriff's office contract will draw in talent, but in a growing county, it's not happening fast enough.Conner hopes the community takes it seriously and considers the career."We are going to be short on something that we need to be concerned with,” he said.Conner said the Omaha police department may consider relaxing some policies to help draw in recruits, like allowing facial hair.Both agencies plan to open recruitment in January, looking to fill almost 110 spots between those two agencies alone.