{"id":2232750,"date":"2024-04-29T14:29:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T18:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sworn-police-officer-count-at-highest-number-since-pandemic\/"},"modified":"2024-04-29T14:32:50","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T18:32:50","slug":"sworn-police-officer-count-at-highest-number-since-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sworn-police-officer-count-at-highest-number-since-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Highest Number of Sworn Police Officers Since Pandemic Started"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsworn-police-officer-count-at-highest-number-since-pandemic%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2232750&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A recent survey\u2064 by the Police Executive Research Forum\u200b reveals an increase \u200din sworn police \u200dofficers among PERF \u2064members since 2020. This\u200b rise\u2063 follows a \u200csubstantial decline post-pandemic and\u2064 during the George Floyd protests. Chuck Wexler, the\u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/just-in-floyd-county-georgia-terminates-election-director-after-statewide-audit-discovers-uncounted-votes\/\" title=\"JUST IN: Floyd County, Georgia Terminates Election Director After Statewide Audit Discovers Uncounted Votes\">executive director<\/a> \u2063of PERF, \u2064expressed optimism, stating, &#8220;We&#8217;re finally starting to turn a corner,&#8221; \u2062despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-school-district-promotes-segregated-black-parent-meeting\/\" title=\"California School District Promotes Segregated \u2018Black Parent\u2019 Meeting\">challenges faced<\/a> by larger agencies in hiring. The Police Executive \u2063Research Forum survey indicates a rise in sworn police officers among PERF members since 2020, following a\u200c decline post-pandemic and\u200c during the George Floyd protests. Despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/swing-district-dems-break-from-biden-on-increased-unemployment\/\" title=\"Swing-District Dems Break From Biden on Increased Unemployment\">hiring challenges<\/a> for larger agencies, Chuck \u200bWexler, the executive director of PERF, \u2064remains \u2064hopeful, mentioning, &#8220;We&#8217;re \u2062finally starting to turn a \u2063corner.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.policeforum.org\/staffing2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>new<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/2982417\/trump-holds-significant-lead-over-biden-in-new-poll\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>survey<\/a> by the Police Executive Research Forum indicates that the number of sworn <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/police\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>police<\/a> officers among PERF members has increased for the first time since at least <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/coronavirus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The small <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/police-staffing-increases-2023-shortage-7e39156a80de2d75e22bd554adc8f887\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>increase<\/a> comes after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/study-texas-heartbeat-act-cut-abortions-by-50-in-september\/\" title=\"Study: Texas Heartbeat Act Cut Abortions by 50% in September\">large decline<\/a> in the number of officers since the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd protests, which popularized the \u201cDefund the Police\u201d movement, with a peak of 6,492 officers resigning in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just think that the past four years have been particularly challenging for American policing,\u201d said Chuck Wexler, executive director of PERF, a nonprofit policing think tank based in Washington. \u201cAnd our survey shows we\u2019re finally starting to turn a corner.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>The survey noted that larger agencies are overrepresented in the survey, though those are also the ones facing the most significant hiring challenges.<\/p>\n<p>Some departments, such as the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, offered increased bonuses in response to hiring challenges after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-leader-same-leadership-for-afl-cio\/\" title=\"New Leader, Same Leadership For AFL-CIO\">continual decline<\/a> in officer hiring. It is unknown if that contributed to the added hiring, as MPD\u2019s numbers have not shown <a href=\"https:\/\/mpdc.dc.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/dc\/sites\/mpdc\/publication\/attachments\/Staffing%20and%20%20Attrition%20March%202024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>any <\/a>significant changes with the $25,000 hiring bonus.<\/p>\n<p>But a police agency in Alameda, California, offered a $75,000 hiring bonus and its chief said it worked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEver since we put this incentive in place, we have had hundreds of applications come in,\u201d Alameda Police Chief Nishant Joshi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcbayarea.com\/news\/local\/bay-area-police-signing-bonuses-key-to-fixing-staffing-crises\/3316381\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>said<\/a> in September 2023.<\/p>\n<p>But money may not be a solution for every department.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s all about money,\u201d Wexler said. \u201cI think it\u2019s about the way people perceive their job and feel they are going to be supported. You have West Coast departments that are paying six figures but still seeing major challenges in hiring.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other smaller departments have <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/police-departments-hiring-disbanding-defunding-minnesota-6bc707834152806264dce7bfa80d9b29\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>disbanded<\/a> entirely, shifting police duties to other agencies near their areas, or county sheriffs.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The survey also featured retirements hitting their lowest number since 2019, but smaller agencies still face the highest percent change in retirements among medium- and large-sized agencies.<\/p>\n<p>Despite optimism from Wexler on the survey, he says the profession is \u201cnot out of the woods yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to a recent survey by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), the count of sworn police officers within PERF members has risen for the first time since 2020. This slight upturn follows a substantial decrease post-pandemic and during the George Floyd protests era, highlighting the shift from the &#8220;Defund&#8221; movement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2232751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24045504093380-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2232750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24045504093380-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2232750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2232751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2232750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2232750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2232750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}