While big-city departments struggle to hire, despite higher pay and bonuses, some police officers are leaving for smaller towns, Stateline reports. The cause of law-enforcement shortages is unclear; the pandemic shuffled the employment picture in many industries, and a recent Duke University study suggests the Floyd-related protests of 2020 didn’t significantly reduce police ranks. But some experts say law enforcement’s national reckoning had an effect. And one trend is becoming clear: larger agencies are seeing more officers move to smaller places, often to escape the intense scrutiny found in big cities, said Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a national nonprofit think tank on policing standards.
Departments have struggled to find incentives that attract sufficient canddiates. They have tried offering hiring bonuses, expediting background checks and increasing salaries. Some have dropped bans on visible tattoos, lowered physical fitness exam requirements and expanded eligibility to noncitizens. So far, the hiring is not enough, data shows. Yet some of the job incentives are now working, especially in smaller agencies. More sworn officers were hired in 2023 than in any of the previous four years, and fewer officers overall resigned or retired, according to a survey by the Police Executive Research Forum, which included responses from 214 law enforcement agencies.