As nationwide crime rates surge—at least 16 cities broke homicide records in 2021 — police departments need capable and coolheaded cops. But officer retirements and resignations have surged in the past two years, and it’s become harder for many agencies to recruit quality candidates — or any at all.
In New York City, over 5,300 NYPD uniformed officers resigned or retired in 2020 — a 75% spike over the previous year. The department reportedly had to cap the number who could file papers simultaneously so as not to overwhelm the system. In Minneapolis, 105 officers left the department in 2020: more than double the average attrition rate. Seattle hemorrhaged 180 officers in 2020 and 170 in 2021 — a near doubling of the 95 officers who left in 2019. In Chicago, 660 cops retired in 2021, nearly twice as many as in 2018. And California’s police staffing crisis reportedly has Bay Area departments unable to fill hundreds of positions. Oakland PD lost a record-breaking 86 officers in 2021 and 2022 is on pace to be worse. And the San Francisco PD is reportedly suffering from a significant deficit among even non-sworn professional staff.
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Hannah Meyers is director of the policing and public safety initiative at the Manhattan Institute.
This piece originally appeared in Ripon Forum