Police officers arrest a suspect in Elizabeth, N.C., April 28, 2021.
After last year’s “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) movement started a wave of anti-police, some U.S. states began to drastically cut police budgets, or introduced some harsh policies for police officers, resulting in police officers in the law enforcement restrictions, and many police officers have been tempted to quit. A few days ago, the U.S. media reported that police officers across the United States are leaving at a record pace, and the national crime rate will continue to soar.
A May 4 report in The Washington Times revealed that police officers across the United States have been leaving and turning in their badges over the last year. To date, some 5,300 officers have left or retired from the New York Police Department, more than 200 officers have left the Seattle Police Department, and 300 officers have turned in their badges at the District of Columbia Police Department in Washington, D.C. Morale within the police force has also become low.
Gregg Pemberton, president of the D.C. police union, was quoted as saying, “The rate of officer departures is alarming, and criminal activity is spreading in many different areas.”
Mike Mancuso, leader of the local Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police, told the Washington Times that the local police department has lost nearly 300 officers, which has overwhelmed the detectives still on the job because they are also short-handed.
Mancuso said, “This has a direct impact on fighting crime because there’s barely enough time to answer 911 calls, let alone find violent criminals.”
The report noted that after the Floyd incident in May 2020, many state legislatures began drastically cutting police budgets and introducing new policies that set numerous restrictions on police enforcement, a move that led to a large number of officers deciding to leave the force, leaving those still on duty to work overtime and “patrol the streets with weary bodies.”
The Washington Times cites statistics that at least nine cities have drastically cut police funding in 2020, while homicides in those areas have increased by nearly 68 percent and violent crime has increased significantly; homicides in Washington, D.C., are up 35 percent from a year ago, the highest crime rate in 16 years.
Pemberton said the numbers are heading in a disastrous direction, with on-duty police officers becoming more and more tired, and that unless Congress changes certain rules, “officers will continue to leave the force and crime will continue to soar,” with communities, and often minority communities, suffering the most in the end.
Just a few days ago, the New York Post also reported on the mass exodus of police officers from the United States. The newspaper quoted Joseph Giacalone, an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, as saying that 831 New York City police officers had retired or were in the process of applying for separation as of April 21 of this year. He said more officers are expected to leave in the current anti-police climate.
“There is a long line of police officers applying for retirement from the department, and I don’t blame them for that, because they can find better jobs elsewhere or even start a new career,” Giacalone said.
He noted that after the New York City Council voted March 25 to repeal limited immunity for police officers, it will be easier for people to sue police officers, which can lead to restrictions on their law enforcement efforts.
“Qualified immunity” means that a public official is immune from civil liability for conduct that does not clearly violate established constitutional or other legal rights.
Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association of New York City, also told the New York Post, “Repealing ‘limited immunity’ would not, as some politicians have suggested Instead of holding bad cops accountable, as some politicians claim, it would prevent good people from becoming cops.”
Recent Comments