Law Enforcement Struggles to Find Officers Since Killing of Floyd

Law enforcement agencies across the country have experienced a wave of retirements² and resignations. Agencies are having a difficult time finding the next generation of police officers in the year following the killing³ of George Floyd by a police officer.

George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by former police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020. Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder and is awaiting sentencing.

While the country is having a discussion on policing, communities are questioning who should become a police officer today.

Large protests, calls for reforming or defunding the police, as well as the coronavirus pandemic have hurt police officers' spirit.

Washington-based Executive Research Forum⁴ provided The Associated Press research on nearly 200 law enforcement agencies. It found that retirements in some departments rose 45 percent compared to the year before.

It is one of the only efforts to examine police recruiting since the killing of George Floyd. The study looked at police officers who resigned or joined the force in 194 police departments out of the 18,000 in the country. It compared these findings for the dates between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2020 to the same dates from 2019.

The wave comes as local lawmakers have said they will push for reform and reshape policing in the 21st century. For example, many communities are ending the policies that give police officers immunity⁵ for their actions while on-duty.

Recruiters are increasingly looking for a different kind of police officer to join the troubled departments.

Recruiters in the past wanted men and women who were physically⁶ strong. Now, police departments are looking for recruits who can use their brain. And they want those future officers to represent their communities.

Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said, "We're looking for someone who can actually relate to the community, but also think like the community thinks."

While the opinions of those in law enforcement about policing in the past year is not well-documented, public opinion is. The Associated Press-NORC center for Public Affairs Research asked Americans what they thought of the police. It found as many as half of American adults believed police violence against the public is a "very" or "extremely" serious problem in the past year.

Some police officers have protested in the last year. Many stayed out of work, claiming to be sick, in an event called the "Blue Flu."

There are still difficulties in the recruitment process. Departments in some cities like Philadelphia are searching candidates' online pages to look for possible biases⁸. Also, police departments offer different wages in different cities. The ones that offer less are having problems finding candidates.

In Dallas, Texas, city leaders spent much of the last ten years finding new recruits. Many officers were leaving due to low pay and a collapse⁹ of their retirement¹ plans.

The force now stands at about 3,100 officers. This is down from 3,300 in 2015. The city's population has grown to more than 1.3 million since then. This means officers take more calls and more cases, all during an increase in racial problems.

In 2016, five officers were killed in Dallas when they were shot by someone seeking revenge for police shootings that killed or hurt Black men. Two years later, an off-duty officer shot and killed a neighbor in his home. The officer was fired and later sentenced to ten years in prison for murder.

Mike Mata is the president of the Dallas Police Association. He said the national political climate, the low pay, and the lack of good retirement plans have combined to cause a recruiting problem in Dallas.

A consulting firm reviewed the department in Dallas in 2019. It found that the department needed more than just additional officers. It found the department needed to examine the goals, the direction, and the culture of the department.

Words in This Story

resignation – n. to formally leave a job

defund – v. to prevent money for (something)

recruit – v. to find suitable people and get them to join a company, an organization, the armed forces, etc.

immunity – n. special protection from what is required for most people by law

bias⁷ – n. a tendency to believe that some people, ideas, etc., are better than others that usually results in treating some people unfairly

revenge – n. the act of doing something to hurt someone because that person did something that hurt you

1 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

2 retirements   

退休( retirement的名词复数 )； 退职； 退役； 退休的实例

参考例句：

• We've had two retirements in our office this year. 今年我们办公室已有二人退休。
• Those may take the form of sackings redundancies, temporary layoffs or retirements. 这些形式有开除，作为编余人员，暂时解雇或退休。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

5 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

6 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

7 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

8 biases   

偏见( bias的名词复数 )； 偏爱； 特殊能力； 斜纹

参考例句：

• Stereotypes represent designer or researcher biases and assumptions, rather than factual data. 它代表设计师或者研究者的偏见和假设，而不是实际的数据。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• The net effect of biases on international comparisons is easily summarized. 偏差对国际比较的基本影响容易概括。

9 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。