That’s obviously reassuring to residents and would-be residents, but it’s not a selling point to recent police academy grads eager to test their mettle.

“It’s hard to find somebody 20, 21 years old, out of the academy, that this appeals to because they wanna be in the action,” Esan said. “They wanna run and gun.”

Esan said it takes a particular kind of officer to patrol Oakland’s easy-going community — someone who retired but wants to stay in law enforcement. “This is the perfect job for them because [the town is] very slow, it's small.”

Those officers appear to be in short supply these days. Oakland Police Department's first vacancy opened in May. There was another one in June. Last month, a third opened up.

The Oakland Police Department is budgeted to have 15 police officers. It’s currently operating with 12, including the chief, a deputy chief and a lieutenant, he said. Esan added that the police department always has a two-person team on a shift and the lack of personnel has not compromised town safety.

"We were fully staffed for two years. We didn't have to hire anybody. This is not normal for us," Esan said.

Beyond the slow pace, salary is another challenge in hiring, Esan told VoxPopuli, explaining that two of the officers who left the Oakland Police Department went to larger agencies.

Of the 12 agencies in Orange County, Oakland currently ranks seventh, with a starting salary of $62,400. Orlando is currently the top paying police department, having hiked its starting pay rate last month to $74,559. Ocoee is second, starting at $71,258. Winter Garden ranks sixth, just above Oakland at $65,935. Windermere ranks ninth, at $54,000-$56,700. In twelth place is Belle Isle, with a starting salary of $48,318.

“People put out multiple applications and then they see what we don’t offer compared to somebody else, and then they’re choosing,” Esan said. He said they just lost a promising candidate to Sanford. “They had more to offer. Other agencies have bigger budgets to incentivize things.”