https://www.counton2.com/news/national-news/ap-police-officer-hiring-in-us-increases-in-2023-after-years-of-decline-survey-shows/

Police departments across the United States 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, a survey shows.

More sworn officers were hired in 2023 than in any one of the previous four years, and fewer officers overall resigned or retired, according to the 214 law enforcement agencies that responded to a survey by the Police Executive Research Forum, or PERF.

Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers spurred nationwide protests against police brutality and heightened scrutiny of law enforcement.

As more and more officers left, many of the departments had to redeploy stretched resources by shifting officers away from investigative work or quality of life issues such as abandoned vehicles or noise violations to handle increases in crime and, in some cases, the shortages meant slower response times or limiting responses to emergencies only, police officials say.

“I just think that the past four years have been particularly challenging for American policing,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of PERF, a nonprofit policing think tank based in Washington, D.C. “And our survey shows we’re finally starting to turn a corner.”

Individual departments are turning that corner at different rates, however, according to Wexler, who noted many are still struggling to attract and keep officers.

As a whole, the profession “isn’t out of the woods yet,” he said.

The Associated Press left phone and email messages with several unions and police departments to ask about increased hiring.

The survey shows that while small and medium departments had more sworn officers than they did in January 2020, large departments are still more than 5% below their staffing levels from that time, even with a year-over-year increase from 2022 to 2023.

The survey also showed smaller departments with fewer than 50 officers are still struggling with a higher rate of resignations and retirements.

The survey asked only for numbers, Wexler said, so it’s hard to say whether those officers are leaving for larger departments or leaving the profession altogether. He also said smaller departments, which account for 80% of agencies nationwide, were underrepresented in the responses PERF received.

Many larger departments have increased officer pay or started offering incentives such as signing bonuses for experienced officers who are willing to transfer, something smaller departments can’t really compete with. At least a dozen smaller departments have disbanded, leaving the municipalities they once served to rely on state or county help for policing.

But even some of the highest-paying large departments are still struggling to get new hires in the door.

“I don’t think it’s all about money. I think it’s about the way people perceive their job and feel they are going to be supported,” Wexler said. “You have West Coast departments that are paying six figures, but still seeing major challenges in hiring.”

In addition to pay and bonuses, many agencies are reexamining their application requirements and hiring processes.

Wexler believes some of those changes make sense, including allowing visible tattoos, reweighing the importance of past financial issues and processing applicants’ background checks faster. But he cautioned that PERF does not support lowering standards for training or for applicants.

Maria “Maki” Haberfeld, chair of the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says departments have been too focused on officer numbers. She worries some are lowering education requirements and other standards to bolster numbers instead of trying to find the best people to police their communities.

“Policing is a real profession that requires more skills and more education than people can understand,” she said. “It’s not about tattoos or running a mile in 15 minutes. It’s really more about emotional intelligence, maturity and making those split-second decisions that don’t use deadly force.”

Haberfeld also cautioned that any staffing gains made through incentives could easily be erased, especially as officers, including some in riot gear, have been seen breaking up protests against the Israel-Hamas war at universities across the country.

“In policing, it takes decades to move forward and a split second for the public attitude to deteriorate,” she said.

PERF’s survey showed a more than a 20% drop in resignations overall, from a high of almost 6,500 in 2022 to fewer than 5,100 in 2023. They are still up over early pandemic levels in 2020, however, when a few more than 4,000 officers resigned across all responding departments.

As with the hiring increases, the rate of decrease in retirements tended to depend on the size of the departments. There were fewer retirements in 2023 than in 2019 at large departments, slightly more retirements at medium departments and elevated retirements at small departments. The survey found a steep drop in resignations at large agencies with 250 or more officers and medium-size agencies with between 50 and 249 officers.

In addition to pay and benefit increases, the 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.”

Sounds like Uncle Joe Biden fixed another Trump problem !!  

When you dramatically lower the hiring standards the applicant pool gets much larger.  

While hiring numbers are up, our resignation and washout rate in training is now much higher than it has ever been, I’m sure they won’t talk about why that could be though.

I’m sure GD will have a field day in the near future when all these people who never should have been cops to begin with start doing newsworthy things.

Do you think that the resignation and washout rate in training is due to the processes working, weeding out those that shouldn't be cops?

And here's the graduating class on 2024

I also have a theory that it could indicate problems with the economy. I remember after I graduated college during the “Great Recession,” there were huge numbers of applicants for law enforcement positions… likely due to perceived job security, etc. People seem to flock to public service jobs during times of economic uncertainty…

3, 2, 1

Yes to a point.

A lot slip through. Think of it as not separating the wheat from the chaff, think of it as getting whatever blows into another basket from a basket of unsorted harvest.

When I taught at the academy, we had recruits who should have been washed out but were kept because if we washed out the ones who deserved it, we might have one or two graduate. And that looks bad on the administration regardless of what should be happening.

Yup.

LVMPD guys here said you literally walk in and they'll take anyone.

The departments around here keep touting their new group of hires… They don’t instill a lot of confidence.

Locally you have to have done cocaine less than time times in the last month.

NYS Police advertised for candidates in foreign countries.

I bet they'll just follow orders too.

2 looks lacking in the sweater puppies department.

Attached File

Retirements slowed for the very simple reason that that is no one left to retire.  Many police stayed on past their initial retirement in better days, but now every one of those has pulled the rip cord.  The only retirements you see now are folks that file paperwork on day one of retirement eligibility.  

Quitting rates of new hires under the new "reimagined" academies and hiring standards is horrifying.  You graduate 50, you'll have under 30 left at their one year mark.  That's an incredible waste of money and time.  

Locally, people are quitting within one WEEK of working the street.

They've stripped out combatives, so they cannot fight.
Live role play classes, severely reduced so they don't know how to interact.
Physical fitness, gone.
Firearms classes are somewhat immune since there are state minimums, but tactical training is curtailed.
Training materials are vetted for racism, DEI crap etc so they don't get the academics they REALLY need.
The end result is some poor bastard thrown into the deep end upon graduation who is expected to OJT in a minefield of wokeness

I think a lot of well experienced good cops who get good results with removing criminals from society are being steadily replaced with the DEI ones who are more loyal to the "communist/islamist cause" than enforcing the law equally and protecting the innocent from predators.

./pink glasses meme. "What kind of policeman are you?"

Recruitment always gets better when the economy gets bad


We just graduated an academy class of 59 which started with 80. Another class of 78 just started and we will likely see the same attrition rate.   And that is just for recruits graduating the academy....we will lose more once they hit their field training phase.  We are also doing a new BLET training program so we arent sure what kind of damage thats going to do until we get through it.

CA Highway Patrol upped their hiring pay to 117k.

Those numbers are pretty good. We still have around 200 operational vacancies and can’t seem to find more than 20 recruits who can pass the lowered standards and relaxed background. We are using the bare minimum NCJA Certification requirements.

We usually lose 50% before PTO is over and have had an Academy that had zero retention after the first year.

Great things are happening……

Increasing starting pay is a start, but the failing standards beyond that are unacceptable.

Yup x 2. Louisville Police standard used to be no marijuana use w/in 3 years, other narcotics, 6 years minimum and on a case by case basis.

They have had two recruits in separate academies in the last five years who admitted to crack use a year prior.

Bottom pic.

Makes sense.  LE always see’s more applicants when the economy is in the shitter.  

Steady pay job, in most places its hard to get fired.

Yeah lowering the standards 75% and sleeve tattoos on both arms and necks are now requirements.

High washout rates in academy, FTO, and unfit candidates leading to large amounts of disability and occasionally discrimination claims.

But government job applications always go up when the economy is shitting itself, and government pay has had to increase to get any interest at all. Hiring bonuses have also induced a lot of people- the idea of a hiring bonus with a one year requirement (or just knowing nobody ever actually pays it back), slumming it in school for 3-6 months, and then an easy FTO period before having to do much real work and the reality sets in, means a lot of turnover and low retention.

Fixed it by running off the people you should want in law enforcement and replacing  them with people you don't want in law enforcement.

Wokeness in action.

That may explain the increase I have noticed in speed traps lately.

+10000000000000

Yep....

Gotta create Brownshirts from somewhere...

The lower the garbage that is brought in, the more likely they will bend the knee to keep their job and power over others...

If you thought the corruption in law enforcement we had was bad, wait till these shits come along.

Yea, like that LaVernge cop in TN, this may not be a bad thing...plus, those chicks look waaaaay more hotter than her

The best quote from a retirement party recently- “who wants to work where the DA wants to arrest YOU for just trying to do your job?”.  That guy said he wants to put in a few more years, but will retire tomorrow if it looks like the 2020 bullshit is starting up again.

And the guy retiring?  Yeah he is moving the hell out of the PNW to a less stupid state.  

Everyone better be prepared for the downhill slide in skills, decision making, crime prevention, etc.  And don’t expect sub par cops to intervene in things like active shooters- the folks willing to do that are slowly being weeded out, beaten down, or just not hired.  Or they were smart enough to not apply for the job.

What a fucking mess.  There will be a backlash, hell it is already starting, but leftists can’t put cause and effect together, so it will be a slow recovery at best.  

Corruption was something I only really heard about in the news at other places, heard about from back in the 60’s-80’s, or similar.  Mostly what I actually saw was just dumb decisions, people thinking with their small brain, getting DUII’s, DV’s, and stuff like that.  Sometimes someone trying too hard to look good as well.  Basically- higher pay equaled less corruption overall.   Lots of problems still, but no actual “corruption”.  

But I agree, actual corruption will get worse going forward…

Of course they are. That’s why states have made laws allowing undocumented to become police officers

I think we are running about 200-250 officers short agency wide.  On my shift, in my district alone, we are down 6 officers with 1 retiring in July and another in January (hes taking the 25 year option).

No, that shitstain died from a lethal Fentanyl overdose.

Come to Portland.

Wages and Benefits
Entry Wage $79k + $5k Bonus
Lateral Range $92k - $113k
Lateral Officer starting wages will be determined at the time of hire by considering the following criteria:

Experience as a current certified law enforcement officer

Size of jurisdiction of prior service

Level of education

Type & number of certifications

Current rate of pay  



Additional Incentive and Premium Pays
10% On Call Pay

$1.00 an Hour for Bilingual Pay

1% - 5% Yearly Cost of Living Increase

$390 Yearly Plain Clothes Assignment Pay

2% Crisis Intervention Training Certification Pay

10% Field Training Officer/Detective/Sergeant Incentive Pay

6% Hazard Pay (RRT, SERT, K9, NOC, EDU and Motorcycle)

3% or 5% Sergeant Incentive Pay (3% Investigative or 5% Patrol)

2% or 4% DPSST Intermediate or Advanced Police Certification Pay

3% or 5% Educational Pay (Bachelor’s Degree or Master’s Degree/JD/PHD)

3% - 7% Longevity Pay (3% at 16 Years, 5% at 21 Years and 7% at 26 Years)

2% or 4% Shift Differential Pay (2% for Afternoon Shift or 4% for Night Shift)

4.5 Years of Service Needed to Participate in Our Three Track Promotional Process (Criminalist, Detective and/or Sergeant)

All Overtime Paid at Time and a Half (Court, Patrol, Special Duty, Late Call, Operational Mission, Case Follow-Up, Call Back, Phone Call Log, etc.)          

(In 2023, the average top step officer made $188k, criminalists averaged $166k, detectives made an average of $195k and those in the sergeant rank averaged $193k)


Wellness Benefits
    1. Paid time (1 hour) to participate in wellness activities each shift  

    2. On-site fitness center locations and classes

    3. Discounts to local fitness clubs  

    4. Chronic care coaching programs

    5. Worksite wellness screenings

   6. Tuition Reimbursement Program



Annual Paid Leave
10 Annual Holidays

4 Personal Days

104 hours Sick Leave

112.06 - 216.06 hours Vacation Leave (accrues 4.31 - 8.31 per pay period)

City Paid Parental Leave (6 weeks) for newborn, newly adopted child and/or foster child

Dependent Care Leave (a maximum of 104 hours per calendar year)

In addition:

A new Lateral Police Officer may be credited for prior professional law enforcement service by placement at the appropriate step of the vacation accrual table.



Health Insurance
Permanent full-time officers are eligible for medical, dental, vision, and life insurance coverage the first of the month following thirty days of eligible service. Ninety-five percent of the costs of medical, dental, and vision coverage are paid by the City.

Read more about Health Insurance at the Bureau of Human Resources website.

Life Insurance

Basic Life: $50,000 (City pays entire cost)

Supplemental Life: Up to $500,000 can be purchased by member

Supplemental Life (Spouse or Domestic Partner): Up to $300,000 can be purchased by member

Supplemental Life (Children): Up to $25,000 can be purchased by member.

Read more about Life Insurance at the Bureau of Human Resources website.



Retirement Plan Options
The Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan (OPSRP) Pension Program is funded by public employers in Oregon and provides a lifetime pension. It is designed to provide approximately 45% of your final average salary at retirement (for a police member with a 25-year career).

The Individual Account Program (IAP) is a second part of the retirement plan. The City pays 9% of a member's salary into the member's IAP account. The account is credited with earnings (or losses) annually based on investment returns. The IAP is estimated to pay approximately 15-20% of the member's final average salary (for a 30-year career) based on an 8% investment return each year.

Note: Officers do not pay into Social Security (approximately 7% of wages).

This is pretty telling about how LE pay varies across the country.   If you look at Portland; they have less than 1k officers (around 800 iirc) but have a starting pay of $79k.  Compare that to Charlotte NC which has double the officers but starting pay is only $57k

Do they have to be able to read and write?   That seems to be a problem these days.

Lowered standards and hugely increased rookie pay is helping. Still not getting anywhere near the quality of officers we once did. When I got hired in 1989 there were over 5k applicants for a 50 man academy and the starting pay was less than I had earned as an E-5. Back then money wasn’t the primary reason one wanted to be a cop. The behavior and incompetence we’ve all been witness to over the last few years has been astounding to me.

Every twenty years or so there's a generational turn-over in police staffing. Guys who could retire definitely headed out the door after Floyd and that incident made it harder to recruit, but the flood of outgoing bodies had to stop sooner or later because they ran out of people who are eligible to retire. Pretty much every agency around here is staffed entirely with people who have less than four years of service. In another twenty years it'll happen again. It's all happened before

GD be like

Nazi Order Followers - Bad

Communist Order Followers - Bad

Cops who are all Order Followers - Good...

The last thing that we need is more order following trash...
We already have enough detritus willing to transgress on Freedom in the name of a paycheck.
Their Satanic overlords are happy for their service. That way they don't have to get their hands dirty.

what it says it is and what it really is

wide disparity

Diversity Inclusion Equity guess they don't like the acronym DIE

They still won’t hire you if you’ve smoked weed. Ever.  Imagine if someone who smoked pot in high school could pass their background check process.  They’d have a lot more people interested. Until they change their mind legally about marijuana they won’t get anything more than guys who wanted to be a cop their whole life, and those are rare.

3, 2, 1

Not what I’m seeing. The numbers are up some places but it’s not replacing those leaving as fast as they can leave. I’ve seen process with no applicants others with none that could pass the requirements. It’s really an applicants market a quality candidate who still wants to cop can go anywhere they want at this point.

25k life insurance for a cop

my employer is footing 1mil and I don't expect to get shot at

not worth it.  i dont care how much money they pay.

My money is on the quality of recruits being far below what Americans are used to . Thats a pretty low bar .

That's a benefit that most agencies don't even offer. We didn't even have vision or dental