From Boston to San Diego and from Seattle to Miami, the story is the same. Cities can’t fill the ranks of their police departments, and the problem is only getting worse.
If that was the goal of protests across the country at this time last year over the death of Minneapolis suspect George Floyd in the hands of that city’s police, they succeeded.
Police are retiring or taking other jobs, and big-city forces are left hundreds of officers short. Fewer people are applying to be a part of the often thankless profession, and crime is up as a result of the shortages and of a lessened desire to confront suspects.
Some of the stark numbers locally were revealed at the Hamilton County Commission meeting earlier this week when Sheriff Jim Hammond noted he was short nine school resource officers (with five in the hiring process). Sheriff’s office officials also said the department lacked 30 correctional staff members and 12 officers in patrol, including three openings that occurred this week. Those patrol openings, they said, would grow to 20 once the positions in the now-passed budget are added.
The shortages are similar in the Chattanooga Police Department. The department is budgeted for 500 officers and currently has 468, 19 short of the department’s 2019 total. The force, according to communications coordinator Elisa Myzal, typically loses about three officers per month from resignations, retirements or terminations.