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ST. LOUIS — Atlanta police are holding a hiring event in St. Louis this weekend to attract officer recruits from the region.

The event could spell bad news for local law enforcement agencies, which have long struggled with severe staffing shortages.

“Poaching other people’s police officers is not the right solution,” said Brian Ashworth, chair of the St. Louis County Board of Commissioners, at a commissioners’ meeting Wednesday.

The Atlanta Police Department is as a way for recruits “to take the first steps toward (a) career in law enforcement.” Attendees will be able to apply, interview, complete assessments and even “leave with a conditional offer.”

“That’s very fast,” said St. Louis County police Sgt. Tracy Panus. “I’m not sure what resources they’re utilizing in order to be able to do it that quickly.”

Other than salary amounts, Atlanta police did not publicize any incentives offered to recruits.

Atlanta’s advertised starting salary of $52,865 to $64,318 is on par with St. Louis County, which begins at $55,390 and tops out at just under $82,000. The city starts new officers out at $53,196 and after a probationary period increases that pay to $54,652.

Atlanta police did not immediately respond to a request for more information about the event.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones learned of the event Tuesday from a friend who pointed it out to her on social media, said Nick Dunne, the mayor’s spokesman.

She told she texted Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and said, “Hey, stop poaching our people.”

Dickens replied that he did not know his police department was recruiting in other cities.

But the city police department’s website says it has hosted similar events in cities across the U.S. this year, including Miami, Detroit, New York City, New Orleans and Chicago.

Like other cities nationwide, Atlanta has an officer shortage — but not as severe as St. Louis.

In April, Atlanta had making up about 22% of its budgeted 2,046 positions.

St. Louis is budgeted for about 1,275 officers but employed just 929 — a vacancy rate of about 28% — as of the end of October.

St. Louis police Chief Robert Tracy last month asked residents to help recruit officers and said the department is offering existing employees $500 if they refer candidates who graduate from the police academy.

And in St. Louis County, the police department’s new HR director, Julia Wagner, said the agency is budgeted for 961 positions but employed just 831 as of Wednesday. The department does have 13 people waiting to start the police academy’s next session in January, Wagner said.

But the department also receives at least one officer resignation every two weeks, Panus said. She and Lt. Col. Juan Cox also said about 20% of the agency’s officers will be able to retire in the next five years.

Cox oversees the department’s patrol division, which is budgeted for 597 officers. He said the department has 535 officers to cover the county’s patrol, plus three other municipalities it contracts with and its work for the Metro Transit.

In order to cover the patrol beats with less staff, he said leaders had to make the unpopular decision to go to 12-hour shifts.

“I can’t move people from my division that work hard and deserve to be a detective or a SWAT operator ... because of our recruitment and retention rates,” Cox said. “I hate to deny them the opportunity of getting a specialized unit. So I think that is impacting morale, also.”

Panus said the effort by police departments to go into other cities nationwide to recruit officers appears to be a new trend, but she noted she has some of it from cities in Florida.

The event will run from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday through Sunday at the Drury Plaza Hotel at the Arch.