Philadelphia’s police department is facing a crisis of low recruitment and surging retirements amid calls to defund and reform police departments across the country.
“It’s the perfect storm. We are anticipating that the department is going to be understaffed by several hundred members because hundreds of guys are either retiring or taking other jobs and leaving the department,” said Mike Neilon, a spokesman for the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police.
Police officials and union leaders are blaming the growing calls to reform the police for causing the officer shortage, though the pandemic has also worked against the department’s recruiting efforts.
A new requirement that officers live in the city has also hampered the city’s drive to fill vacancies.
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“All of that coming together is creating some issues with finding the best and brightest to sign up to be Philadelphia police officers,” Neilon said.
Almost 80 of the city’s police officers have entered the Deferred Retirement Option Program, which puts them on track to retire within four years. That number is up from just 13 people who made the decision last year, with the city now facing 268 vacancies for its budgeted force of 6,380 officers.
“Every action has a reaction. When you vilify every police officer for every bad police officer’s decision, [people] don’t want to take this job anymore,” said Pat Colligan, president of the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association.
“It’s been a very trying and difficult time to put on the badge every day,” he added. “There’s a recruiting crisis.”
The problem isn’t just isolated to Philadelphia, a trend most officials blame on the current climate police officers face.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that what’s transpiring in our nation today is contributing to the lack of retention and the difficulty in hiring new officers. A lot of cops right now, in view of the environment, are saying, ‘Hey, I’ve gone 20, 30 years without being sued, shot, or divorced. I’m going to get out while I have an opportunity,’” said Jack Rinchich, president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police.
Rinchich believes officers are demoralized, especially by decisions to cut specialized units such as SWAT and K-9 teams. He also pointed to the growing trend of freezing department budgets while political debates over ending qualified immunity for officers have sent many looking for greener pastures.
“It’s something that all departments have recognized as something that’s getting harder and harder,” said John Viola, who also serves as president of the Delaware County Police Chiefs Association. “People don’t want to be police anymore. It’s a good job and good-paying job, but when you look at national news every day, people just don’t want to be officers.”
Viola said his department would, in the past, get applicant pools of 200 to 300 candidates per year, but this year, it had only received 72 applications before the April 30 deadline.
While many agencies have struggled to keep enough officers on the force, the Pennsylvania State Police has had better luck.
“From our perspective, the Pennsylvania State Police have never had a problem attracting applicants. Part of that has to do with the very attractive pay and benefits we offer our recruits and the breadth and depth of opportunity that the department provides people to take on many roles and advance their career,” said Ryan Tarkowski, a state police spokesman.
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Applicants looking to work for the Pennsylvania State Police can expect a starting salary of $63,364, helping make sure the department never goes short on qualified applicants.
“We have far more applications coming in than we have spots available,” Tarkowski said.
