From the Police Executive Research Forum: Responding to the Staffing Crisis: Innovations in Recruitment and Retention.
These graphs:
That’s a huge problem.
Officers are retiring. Many are quitting and leaving law enforcement all together. The number of new applicants is down.
There is a massive shortage in Police in cities, and it’s only getting worse.
Violent crime is increasing, and response times are getting longer.
You are on your own.
Nobody is coming to save you.
Prepare to defend yourself.
and I would bet the majority of the ‘decreased applicants’/’increased open positions’ are in deep blue urban areas that screamed ACAB and DEFUND while the buildings burned.
Oh right, they didn’t ‘actually’ defund, that’s just a MAGA talking point, just like the ‘mostly peaceful protests’ that caused hundreds of millions in damages and encouraged 50%+ increases in violent crime.
Look at the criminal justice system overall – Officers in Corrections are bailing out too. The support services for policing (the lab, dispatch, office personnel, etc.) are also leaving. The whole system beyond just the local cop is heading towards an implosion.
golly gee whiz Beav…. wonder why??? couldn’t have anything to do with the fukkin democrats and the constant demonization of cops, could it?? Id train my dispatch to ask the caller if they a democrat.. they ask why, Id lie and say we respond faster to democrats… then the dispatch hangs up and takes a coffe break. before the cops roll up Id send a fukkin sandle wearin social worker first… fukkin democrats create all kinds of problems, blame Trump and expect everyone else to fix it while being politically correct while doin it…
Might want to keep some sort of “Rittenhouse Rig” and extra mags in your vehicle too.
The main driver in this is the Legal Risk Factor no longer being held in check by the jurisdiction’s L.E. Immunity Clause. The main question officers are asking themselves is, “How will my state’s prosecutors and judges rule if I have to attempt to follow procedures in a lethal situation, acting in a split second which has several unknown factors?” Will I be given the benefit of the doubt when the racial grievance industrial complex comes to town should there be a perceived racial component to the situation?
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An officer of ten years or more, the one officer who knows how to implement training and policy to the letter, no longer knows for certain how it will turn out. There are no assurances that a local judge has not become a social justice warrior…. judges don’t issue public policy changes, that is until they judge contrary to how they always used to judge racially charged cases.
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And another factor to consider is, the officers who are applying for positions are less qualified thereby reducing the overall effectiveness the L.E. agencies’ ability to upholding and enforce the law in extreme cases. Injustice prevails on all levels of L.E. as a result.
It would also be a morale buster to arrest an offender (even multiple times) only to see them back on the street before the paperwork is complete… put one’s life and health on the line for what?