‘Our profession is dying’: Police officials on recruiting crisis

CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Police hires are declining across the country, and some of the efforts being made to turn it around aren’t universally popular among law enforcement officials.

“Our profession is dying,” Fraternal Order of Police Vice President Gamaldi told “The Donlon Report” on Tuesday night after rattling off the various drops in hiring percentages police departments are facing across the country.

Some cities are reducing the requirements new candidates must meet to broaden the pool of applicants. But Gamaldi says that comes with risk.

“It goes much deeper then just college. We’re talking about lowering standards for previous criminal conduct for previous drug use. These things need to look be looked at very, very carefully,” Gamaldi said.

According to the Police Executive Research Forum, the number of recruits during 2021 was 3.9 percent lower than in 2019; resignations increased 40.4 percent from 2020 to 2021 and there was a 23.6 percent increase in retirements across the same time frame.

As a result, cities have been adjusting to bring in more candidates.

In March, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown announced his department was waiving college credit requirements for potential recruits with either two years of military or peace officer experience, three years in corrections, social services, health care, trades or education.

Similarly, Philadelphia removed some college credit requirements for police recruits in 2016 after New Orleans scrapped its 60-college credit rule in February 2015. Departments have also relaxed marijuana policies.

Gamaldi says the adjustments were inevitable, telling the program, “There has to be some sort of change.” Smith agrees college is not the only place to learn.

“I don’t think it’s lowering the standards, I think it’s adapting to what’s necessary right now,” Smith said. “What is necessary in policing is an abundance of common sense and practical application — that can’t be taught sitting in a classroom and getting a college degree.”

But Gamaldi and Smith disagree on how police departments across the nation arrived at this point. While Smith says it’s just part of the “ebb and flow” of the economy, Gamaldi blames the media and Democrats.

“The fact of the matter is, qualified, educated people are voting with their feet because of the anti-police rhetoric. When you have politicians like (Mayor) Lori Lightfoot in Chicago, who bemoan the point that they can’t find anybody to take the job, well, here’s an idea: Look in the mirror. You have denigrated and demonized law enforcement for the last few years, you have burned down the institution of policing, and now we’re all living in the ashes.”

Regardless of the underlying forces that created the trend, a new report from CNN provides some hope the new changes could help.

Two weeks after the Chicago Police Department announced they were waiving a college credit requirement for some recruits, CNN reports 400 candidates applied that same day, and the department has had continued spikes of applicants since then.