Given the toxic environment police are forced to work in these days, this is the most un-shocking news I’ve seen all year. But nonetheless, it is very important:
NY POST – A new study exclusively obtained by Fox News found an alarming increase in retirements and resignations across 10 police departments in the U.S. over the past year following protests.
Research from the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF) analyzed active police memberships and activity from June 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021, and compared it to the same period a year prior – meaning the study analyzed the numbers before and after the murder of George Floyd, which prompted national and global protests that demanded police reform to the tune of “Defund the Police.”
During that period, researchers found an 18% increase in overall voluntary law enforcement departures, including a 24% increase in overall voluntary resignations and 14% increase in overall voluntary retirements.
“In the wake of the anti-police movement and Floyd protests, cops – unwanted and unappreciated by their political leaders – officers are running for the exits. Resignations and retirements at the largest police agencies in the United States are skyrocketing while recruitment is tanking,” said LELDF President Jason Johnson.
The study cited riots and the Defund movement as prime motivating factors for the push.
“I wouldn’t take [a job as a police chief],” said former NYPD Commissioner and current LAPD Chief Bill Bratton. “The ability to succeed in this climate … the progressive district attorneys’ policies just aren’t going to work.”
BLM riots and the defund movement are absolutely to blame for a lot of this. But I’d say that the crop of anti-cop prosecutors we’ve seen recently who seek to vilify officers for simply doing their jobs are also very much to blame. When an officer has lost faith in the city he or she serves, to have their back in these difficult situations, then I know I’d be gone.
The problem, though, isn’t just that police officers are “running for the exits” around the country, but that it’s causing violent crime to skyrocket around the country because there just aren’t enough officers:
“I call it a crisis because it is a crisis,” interim Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon noted. Greater Austin Crime Commission member Cary Roberts noted a 96% increase in murders — an increase that started before the city council voted to strip millions from the police department, but which will prove increasingly challenging thanks to the thinning force.
“When they get there, they then likely have to wait for back-up,” said Kevin Lawrence, who serves as executive director of the Texas Municipal Police Association. “They don’t have the resources they need to actually address whatever the situation is.”
The Austin Police Department now has 300 sworn officer vacancies, according to the study. The study correlated this with a 56% increase in homicides during the same time. Similarly, Chicago recorded a 20% jump in retirements and resignations, which the study correlated with an overall 50% drop in arrests and 52% rise in homicides.
I know this is nothing new, but it truly is a public safety crisis that will only get worse as the anti-cop attitudes continue to grow in this country.