Burhead
God-Emperor of Politics
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https://ca.news.yahoo.com/baltimore-saw-steep-fall-police-numbers-murder-rate-050511229.html
This is going to be the continuing trend in big urban cities with what happened last night it will only get worse. The good people who should be LEOs will start retiring/resigning to avoid the environment right now leaving only the bad officer on the force & bad candidates applying thus continuing this cycle of "Us vs Them" mentality. Why would any sane person would want to work this thankless job in an urban city for what 30, 40, or 50k a year and if you make a decision to use force your face and name is plastered on the 24/7 new cycle regardless if it was justified or not.
Baltimore, a city of 622,000 people, has long been blighted by deep-seated poverty and drug crime in some neighborhoods. The city saw a 63 percent surge in homicides last year, with 344 people slain, though the number of killings has declined modestly this year, by 5 percent through July 2.
The city ended 2015 with 2,634 sworn officers on its police force, down from 2,805 a year earlier, according to Police Department data. From January to June 9, the force shrank by a further 6.8 percent to 2,445 officers, according to city records.
"We're operating short-handed," said Gene Ryan, president of the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police union, who called the climate since Gray's death a "morale killer."
Both union and police officials say officers have defected to other departments in the area since the riots that followed Grays death.
Ryan added that due to staffing shortages police brass are ordering a lot of "supplemental patrols," in which more specialized officers are assigned to respond to emergency calls.
The city's most recent budget cuts the size of the police force by 8 percent to 2,629, still more officers than it now has on the payroll.
This is going to be the continuing trend in big urban cities with what happened last night it will only get worse. The good people who should be LEOs will start retiring/resigning to avoid the environment right now leaving only the bad officer on the force & bad candidates applying thus continuing this cycle of "Us vs Them" mentality. Why would any sane person would want to work this thankless job in an urban city for what 30, 40, or 50k a year and if you make a decision to use force your face and name is plastered on the 24/7 new cycle regardless if it was justified or not.