MESA, Ariz. — Playing up the state’s sunshine and warm weather, desperate Arizona law enforcement agencies are recruiting officers in other parts of the country.

Scottsdale recruiters advertise in newspapers nationwide, post online ads to appeal to younger candidates and put up fliers in men’s restrooms at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.

Other agencies target the Midwest, selling the idea of a sunny desert oasis to men and women frustrated with long winters and only a handful of openings in their police departments.

Jason Abend, executive director of the National Law Enforcement Recruiters Association in Virginia, said many agencies around the country are so needy for officers, they have taken to poaching recruits from other agencies.

“Do they mind?” Abend asked. “Certainly. But there is going to be a shortage for probably the next 10 years.”

California departments must find 68,000 new officers in the next 10 years, while New York must scramble to recruit 3,000 officers each year just to remain at current staffing levels.

Abend said one reason for the shortage is that military bases aren’t exporting police applicants as much as they used to because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Arizona, police agencies are in somewhat of a salary war, trying to lure candidates with more attractive numbers.

Phoenix offers lifetime medical benefits while Tempe has the highest starting salary in the Phoenix metro area. The department displayed the figure, $48,928, on large cardboard signs at a Mesa Community College job fair in early March.

Gilbert, where the starting salary is $44,232, has had to get more creative, enticing officers at other departments with comparable salaries. The technique has been so successful, about one in four of the department’s new officers have come from other agencies, Sgt. Hugh White said.

Mesa gives the phone numbers of recruits to commanders to show how much they are wanted. “They will go with the agency that acts like they really want them,” Mesa Sgt. Arlene Heckel said.