In response to shrinking police forces across the country, some local departments are giving officers large pay boosts — but many say it takes far more than money to draw people to policing and keep them there, NPR reports.
In reality, the evidence that higher pay gets more people to become cops and stay in the profession is mixed at best.
“It isn't all about money. It's about quality of life,” says Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).
According to PERF, the number of officers employed by large agencies is around 5% lower than it was four years ago. That has had an impact.
In Minneapolis, Police Chief Brian O’Hara says residents experience the effects of having fewer investigators and fewer officers on the street. “It means much longer response times for certain things,” he says. “Doesn't mean that we're forgetting about cases, but it does mean we are prioritizing.” O’Hara estimates the department today is staffed 40% below what it was in 2020.
He says officers have less time for check-ins and less direct contact with community members; They rely more now on single-officer cars, and there’s a fear that calling for backup could take longer than it used to.
Typically, city officials calculate the number of officers needed to deem a department fully staffed based on a variety of factors including population levels, crime trends and budget allocations.
But there is no magic number, and the evidence is mixed on whether more officers – or more money spent on policing – predicts crime rates, researchers say.
Ben Grunwald, a law professor at Duke University, says not enough is known to say definitively what the best number of police officers actually is.
“If you talk to police chiefs and law enforcement experts, they'll tell you we need more officers because officers help reduce violent crime and help other problems with communities,” Grunwald says. “On the other hand, you can talk to activists who will tell you, ‘No, we don't need more officers. What we need is fewer officers because police officers cause lots of social harm to communities.’”
When the Los Angeles City Council voted to increase the starting salary of officers by 13% last year, the city’s police department reported an increase in applications.
A 2024 study also found that higher salaries made some college students more open to applying for the job. But it noted that nearly half of the surveyed students said there was “no chance” they’d apply, including many who had majored in criminal justice.
Another study from this year zeroed in on burnout and psychological distress as key reasons why officers leave. Compared to the general population, police officers are more likely to experience post-traumatic stress disorder. They’re also more likely to die by suicide.
“It's honestly a lot of times not as much to do with the money. It's a lot more to do with the frustrations around the job,” says Colin Whittington, a former officer in northern Virginia
There are some cities bucking the trend. In fact, according to PERF data, smaller departments have bounced back after a decline and have more officers now than they did in 2020.
In Bloomington, Minn., a suburb of nearly 90,000 people a few miles south of Minneapolis, the department is overstaffed
Hodges is the city’s first Black police chief, and used to be president of the Minneapolis NAACP. He understands not everyone is going to like the police. He’s aiming instead for mutual respect, toward the community and also toward officers.
He says that makes for a positive work environment. Otherwise he says understaffing, which leads to lots of overtime shifts, becomes a vicious cycle.
“If you consistently have to work 16-hour days, one: how awake are you going to be, right? Two: How much quality time are you able to take to recharge and spend with your family, right? So are you your best person overall if you're working that much? And the answer is no,” he says.
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