Why Cops Are Quitting

In the past year, city police departments across the country have reported a dramatic drop in manpower, as cops retire, resign, or leave for the suburbs.

The San Francisco Police Department is short 400 officers; over 115 officers, including an entire unit dedicated to crowd control, have left the Portland PD; and nearly 200 have left the Minneapolis PD or are on leave, rendering the department unable to engage in proactive policing.

"Some of these protests, I had officers in my command who were assaulted while they policed some of these protests. One of my lieutenants had a brick thrown on top of his helmet."

The former Minneapolis officer described the moment he decided to leave the force: when a large, mentally ill man having a psychotic episode dropped dead moments before he arrived at the scene, thereby saving the officer from having to tase the man-and therefore get blamed for his death.

One of the retired NYPD officers said of new restrictions on police: "To me, it felt like it was no longer about police reform. It was about punishment. It was about punishing police officers for the killing of George Floyd."

The officers to whom I spoke agree that the hostility-from the media, public, and municipal leaders-hit a new high last summer, and has persisted since, explaining why some departments are struggling to hire new officers even amid a persistently high unemployment rate.

As the cops who have walked out tell it, the manpower crisis is partially the byproduct of a sustained assault on policing by politicians and journalists looking to score points.
 

https://www.city-journal.org/why-cops-are-quitting