BATON ROUGE — 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 interested in working for BRPD. The agency has 698 positions, but 156 of them aren't filled.

“You’ve got smaller agencies and larger state agencies, where you can work less hard and make more,” McKneely told The Advocate newspaper. “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.”

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.