“W”hat a beautiful a sight. The police officers who keep my family safe…I consider them some of my closest friends.”
Exclaimed Judy Simon, an elderly woman attending a community-police meeting in Houston in July of 2020. Her voice raspy and chiseled, she went on as her friends chimed in to offer similar sentiments.
Shouts of “thank you” and “U-S-A” could be heard off an on for over an hour — these woman have a spirited love and admiration for the men and women in blue who keep their Montrose neighborhood safe.
And she’s not alone. Young mothers, hardworking manufacturers, and small-business owners struggling to make it through COVID restriction still vehemently support the Houston Police Department.
And these men and women, the law-abiding citizen who deserve our protection, want more police presence, not less. They want what we all inherently want — the feeling of safety. The view officers as the entity that stands between calm and chaos.
What will the activists seeking to defund the police tell these law-abiding Houston residents and elsewhere — that they are now on their own?
Sound the alarm — our nation is losing our brave men and women in blue
Asheville, NC — As many as 53 Asheville police officers have left the force since the start of 2020, including more than 50 who have resigned since June 1. That’s pushing more than a 30% reduction in sworn officer staff. Unbelievable and frankly disheartening for everyone who wants to live in a safe America.
Asheville has seen more than a 30% reduction in sworn officer staff
To no one’s surprise, Asheville is hurting from this. Chief David Zack, who joined as the Chief of Police in February 2020, said that has led to adjustments that include prioritizing calls, much longer response times and a less physical and visible presence in downtown Asheville.
It’s not just beautiful mountain towns like Asheville that are seeing this disturbing trend. Major metros of Atlanta, Minneapolis and Fort Worth have all suffered major turnover in 2020. Take Austin, Texas for example..
Good officers are leaving at an alarming rate. A senior officer in the department was quoted earlier in the year, “the people that aren’t currently leaving, they’re talking about it.”
The biggest reason why good people are deciding to leave: historic low levels of departmental morale.
We tried to improve morale. Unfortunately, morale across the board, across the nation in this profession is at an all-time low — Senior Officer at Austin Police Dept., April 2020
The same is happening in Atlanta. Atlanta police officers continue to resign, citing low morale and lack of support, according to the police union. A report from the Atlanta Police Department shows 28 officers resigned in August, alone. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms admitted in a June press conference that morale within the department was low.
My understanding is that it’s really bad, it’s understandably so — Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms
Manny Ramirez, president of the Fort Worth, Texas, Police Officers Association, said that he had seen more police officers retire in the past seven months of 2020 than they had in the past 30 years. “The bottom line is when your profession is turned into a political football you can see why these police chiefs are walking away at record pace.”
Find out how Critical helps Law Enforcement Agencies retain their great talent, boost morale, and keep command staff informed of everything happening in the department at all times.
Should we care? — In short, absolutely.
1. Crime statistics show that homicides are up in big cities, including New York, Atlanta and Chicago, as well as smaller cities like Milwaukee amid police officers’ decisions across the country to resign or retire early.
2. It’s not just good officers that are leaving. Good command leaders are leaving too, which can often leave a leadership vacuum that is very difficult to fill. Since the George Floyd incident of 2020 that sparked the “defund the police” movement, Chief of Police’s have resigned at Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, Nashville, Rochester, Albuquerque, Portland, Louisville and a host of other cities. A turnstile at the top of any organization, including police departments, creates instability that can wreck good order and discipline.
3. Like in Asheville, you are going to have forced overtime and worn out officers patrolling the streets. Or possibly none at all. In a desperate move for departments to bring warm bodies through the door, you are going to have departments hire candidates that, at another time, they may not consider. This talent deficiency creates a massive problem for the safety and well-being of communities.
Over the past decade, an expanding body of research has illustrated just how terrible violence can be for a neighborhood. And it should concern all of us.
To no one’s surprise, children’s academic growth and healthy social development are stunted with violence and lawlessness happening outside their windows. Their ability to focus, learn, and even attend school drops dramatically. It’s not just our children that suffer — places that rely on law and order to function like businesses, convenience stores, and malls and turn dangerous, and families realistically look for other places to live. The ones that can, often do. Because nothing works if the public space is unsafe.
Nothing works if the public space is unsafe.
Proponents of “defund the police” and those who vehemently argue that the police have no role in maintaining safe streets are arguing against lots of strong evidence. It’s easy to see that putting more officers on the street leads to less violent crime. In fact, after the unrest around the deaths of Freddie Gray in Baltimore and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., police officers stepped back from their duty to protect and serve and violence predictably soared to historic levels.
Naturally, when police don’t do their jobs, we get more violence and crime in our streets.
Here’s the rub: Fewer cops and deflated funding mean longer response times, less training, and less equipped police officers. But police officers are asked to confront a degree of social unrest and divide that would be terrifying to most of us, and yet they continue to believe in the good people of their community.
Our nation should not let our officers down by caving to anti-cop hysteria. Our communities, our children, and our country deserves better.
The Critical App for Law Enforcement
Tim Paul is the Co-Founder and CEO of Critical, a platform that is changing the game for Law Enforcement and Fire/EMS Agencies. He is a former Lieutenant Commander in the Navy and loves his country.
He can be contacted at tim.paul@thecriticalapp.com
Does the current state of community policing concern you? Why or why not? Leave a comment below to share your thoughts.
