The news that the town of Ellicott is having trouble finding part-time police officers highlights what is likely to be a longstanding problem.

Smaller police departments like Ellicott often use part-time police officers to help fill gaps in shifts when full-time officers are sick or on vacation. Using part-time officers is less expensive for taxpayers than hiring the additional full-time officers needed and, at the same time, provides bigger departments a real-world training program.

But Ellicott finds itself among the ranks of towns that can’t hire part-time officers because students graduating from the police academies are finding full-time work. The police academy graduated 30 officers and only four were from Chautauqua County. All acquired full-time jobs with other agencies after graduation.

What does this mean for Ellicott residents? It means there will be times when response times are longer than usual because there are fewer police officers on patrol. The town’s budget doesn’t have the money or the reserves available for a mid-year hiring, so the town is stuck with what it has.

Ellicott is actually lucky that the lack of part-time officers is a recent issue. Small departments across the country have had periodic issues finding part-time officers over the past couple of years.

There is no easy way out of the issue other than spending more money to create full-time positions or increase the pay rate for part-time officers.

In short, there is no good answer. It’s a situation that bears watching.