Police facing growing crisis with staffing

As Pennsylvania families gather around their dinner tables, I hope they’ll say a small prayer for the three Pennsylvania police officers we’ve already lost this year: Brackenridge Chief Justin McIntire, McKeesport officer Sean Sluganski and Temple University officer Christopher Fitzgerald. It’s in their memory that I hope state lawmakers can come together to help law enforcement do their jobs safely — and return home to their families. That means giving them more backup.

The biggest issue law enforcement faces is the recruitment and retention of good officers. Departments across Pennsylvania, and America, are suffering from some of their lowest numbers ever.

In 2019 police recruitment in the United States was already dire. The International Association of Chiefs of Police termed it a crisis. IACP noted that despite an increase in the raw number of law enforcement jobs, overall population growth had led to a decline in the ratio of residents to police officers.

Staffing problems became even more acute in 2020 with the pandemic and fallout from the murder of George Floyd. COVID-19 claimed the lives of 900 officers nationwide, and the riots following the events in Minneapolis gave rise to the “Defund the Police” movement. This made our jobs more dangerous and led to an exodus of officers. The resignation rate in 2020-21 increased by 18% and the retirement rate rose by 45%, according to the Police Executive Research Forum.

Police departments here have not been immune. Things got so bad that then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro initiated a “heropay” retention bonus program for police officers who work in short-staffed departments.

When you add in the effects of an economic recession with high inflation, salaries paid to officers simply don’t go as far as they did — making recruitment even more challenging. What does all of this mean? Police staffing is no longer a crisis; it is a full-scale catastrophe. We simply don’t have enough officers to protect the citizens of this commonwealth. That’s the truth. If it’s one thing a criminal knows — it’s a numbers advantage, and they know our officers are spread far too thin. The result: Increased crime and violence is taking place all across Pennsylvania.

Here’s an example of how bad recruitment is suffering at the state police.

When I signed up in 1995, I competed for a position with 10,000 applicants. Let me say that again, I had to compete with 10,000 applicants to become a state trooper.

Last year? The state police had only 1,000 applicants.

Despite this, our duties as troopers haven’t decreased. In fact, it’s just the opposite.

Municipal police departments continue to cease operations, leaving state police with the sole responsibility of covering those jurisdictions. We’re responsible for over 85% of Pennsylvania’s land mass. Troopers also provide patrol duties in Chester and Philadelphia. And every time a new program is initiated by state or federal authorities, the state police is charged with implementing it without additional funding.

The Pennsylvania State Troopers Association believes legislative steps can be taken to enhance public safety for all residents of the commonwealth. One item that can and should be done quickly is a dedicated funding stream for our department in the next state budget.

The first duty of government is the safety of its citizens. With dedicated funding, our department can address many of the issues related to trooper recruitment and retention. It also would ensure we have the training in place to protect Pennsylvanians.

We are in constant training as state troopers, and the costs are only rising as more training is included. Just since November, I’ve received training for contact data reporting; emergency awareness; the Commonwealth Law Enforcement Assistance Network; and cybersecurity.

For the record, we support more training for our troopers. As we like to say, in a little more than a century, training has helped the state police make the transition from horseback to helicopter.

Let’s address this growing catastrophe and increased violence head-on. A good start is to directly fund a line item in the state budget for the state police, so we have the backup and resources to accomplish our ever-growing mission.