BATON ROUGE mdash; Baton Rouge Police won't hold a class for potential officers next month because not enough people expressed interest.Police spokesman Lt. L'Jean McKneely said other agencies can provide additional pay for less stressful work, leading to a downturn in the number of people interest ed in working for BRPD. The agency has 698 positions, but 156 of them aren't filled.ldquo;Yoursquo;ve got smaller agencies and larger state agencies, where you can work less hard and make more,rdquo; McKneely told The Advocate newspaper. ldquo;Our call volume is way higher than them. We deal with a lot more trauma and anxiety, that we're being faced with on a day-in and day-out basis.rdquo;After a year on the job, BRPD officers make $50,598. At State Police, troopers make about $10,000 more.He said BRPD will hold an academy for new officers in April if there is enough interest.Baton Rouge voters last month rejected Mayor-President Sid Edwards' proposed budget changes that were intended to increase police salaries. Edwards' plan would have had the city-parish tap currently dedicated funding for libraries, pest control and services for the elderly.Permalink| Comments ...read more read less