The Thin Blue Line (law enforcement officers) that separates us from the criminal element is getting thinner. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics a division of the Department of Justice, there has been a decline in the total number of law enforcement officers in the US from 2.29 per 1000 in 2013 to 2.17 per 1000 in 2016. This may seem like a small absolute number but if the ratio had stayed the same there would have been 39,889 more police officers’ serving our communities. Nationally, 66 percent of police departments report declining numbers of applications, according to a survey of 400 law enforcement agencies by the Police Executive Research Forum. At this Forum, a roomful of police chiefs were asked if they wanted their children to go into law enforcement and not one hand went up.
There are three separate causes at the root of this problem:
- Fewer people are applying to become police officers. Public opinion of law enforcement has slid to a 22 year low in 2015. The very essence of policing is being debated in many cities, often because of controversial video recordings of police officers actions. Community trust has eroded and the professionalism of the police is being questioned Also, hiring in a healthy economy with a unemployment rate at a record low of 3.7 percent presents challenges to attracting new recruits.
- More officers are leaving their departments and in many cases the policing profession. The majority of those leaving are occurring within the first five years of being on the force. The cop of yesteryear would never have understood body cams, mobile devices, body armor, an internal affairs bureau or the ACLU. No matter what officers do, no matter how much they train, they can still make a mistake and in some cases be held criminally liable. Police are definitely feeling unappreciated.
- A growing number of police officers are retiring. Age 50 is now a retirement goal for many senior and experienced officers. There is a bubble of police officers who joined the force in the 1990’s due to Federally funded hiring programs and Baby Boomers who are retiring.
Police forces across the country are trying to find solutions to this problem. Some suggestions include lowering candidate standards especially with respect to education levels, prior drug use, tattoos, and facial hair. Some agencies have even suggested hiring non-citizens to fill the ranks. It is a good time to thank police officers for their service.
