Police departments are reporting an increase in their ranks for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 killing of George Floyd, which led to a historic exodus of officers.
More sworn officers were hired in 2023 than in any one of the previous four years, and fewer officers resigned or retired, according to the 214 law enforcement agencies that responded to a survey by the Police Executive Research Forum, reports the Associated Press.
Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers led to nationwide protests against police brutality and heightened scrutiny of law enforcement.
As more officers left, many agencies redeployed stretched resources by shifting officers from investigative work or quality of life issues such as abandoned vehicles or noise violations to handle increases in crime. In some cases, the shortages meant slower response times or limiting responses to emergencies only.
"I just think that the past four years have been particularly challenging for American policing,” said PERF's Chuck Wexler. “And our survey shows we’re finally starting to turn a corner.”
He noted that many departments are struggling to attract and keep officers. As a whole, the profession “isn’t out of the woods yet,” he said.
The survey shows that while small and medium departments had more sworn officers than they did in January 2020, large departments are more than 5% below their staffing levels from that time.
In addition to pay and benefit increases, improved retention can be partly attributed to a shift in how some public officials view their public safety departments, Wexler says.
“We went from having public discourse about defunding the police just a few years ago to public officials waking up to the fact their workforce is leaving,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any question that there has been a sea change among political leaders.”