Workforce Crisis: Officer Safety in Peril
/By: Joel E. Gordon
Lack of staffing is a serious issue for many law enforcement agencies nationwide. Departments are short-staffed not only in rural areas but in many metropolitan areas as well. In Baltimore, Maryland, a city known for murder and other violent crimes, while honest numbers are difficult to obtain, there is believed to be a vacancy rate of police patrol positions of about 26% without more recent “downsizing” adjustments. It's just one example of a trend occurring at police departments nationwide.
The challenge of recruiting and retaining sworn personnel with more officers leaving their departments and the profession even long before retirement age are among factors in what the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) calls a "workforce crisis."
PERF reports last year 63% of law enforcement agencies saw officer applications decrease significantly or slightly. 41% say it’s grown worse in the past five years. The lack of recruits has meant a financial cost as well.
In Portland, Oregon, for example, overtime nearly doubled between 2013 and 2018, much of that due to a staffing shortage. The impact of the officer shortage varies from place to place, from seeing increased crime to seeing delays in getting investigations completed. One trend is that most police officers find themselves working longer hours to do the job, tired with less resources and backup, and at the expense of officer safety.
The family of a slain sheriff’s deputy has recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Pierce County, Washington. The lawsuit alleges that deputies are not safe at work due to inadequate staffing. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Deputy Daniel McCartney’s wife, estate and three young sons and stresses the dangers of attempting to do more with less.
Deputy McCartney, 34, was shot in the line of duty on Jan. 7, 2018, while responding to a home invasion robbery. The lawsuit describes the dangers of two deputies covering 700 square miles highlighting the unrealistic and unsafe expectations that deputies had to endure. “For any given shift, Pierce County expected two deputies to patrol over 700 square miles — nearly 40% of Pierce County,” the lawsuit said. “Pierce County set minimum staffing levels approximately 16 or more years ago without increasing staffing minimums to correspond or keep pace with population growth. Pierce County knowingly put Deputy McCartney in the untenable position of responding without any immediate back-up,” part of the lawsuit said. “But for Pierce County’s failure to properly staff and train its deputies, Daniel McCartney would likely still be alive.”
Along with the great distances that deputies were expected to cover, the lawsuit also revealed unrealistic and unsafe work hours. Deputies were forced to work double shifts with very little sleep. Deputy McCartney returned home and had less than six hours of sleep before he returned to work for his regular swing shift,” the lawsuit said. “When a fellow deputy became ill, and with the agency understaffed, Deputy McCartney agreed to cover the fellow deputy’s graveyard shift on Jan. 7, 2018 to Jan. 8, 2018. Unfortunately, Daniel McCartney never made it home from that shift.”
“Pierce County knew the Sheriff’s Department was sufficiently understaffed and that as such, patrol deputies were not safe,” the lawsuit said. “… In 2009 and again in 2018, prior to Deputy McCartney’s death, consultants submitted comprehensive reports on Pierce County’s short-staffing. One of the consultants reported, ‘There are times when only one officer is available for a call, which, depending on the call, can be unsafe.” Two Pierce County deputies had been ambushed previously and one had died.
“Pierce County’s Council should have left staffing priorities to the elected Sheriff and Pierce County’s Council should have appropriated monies to bring staffing to sufficiently safe levels,” the lawsuit said. “Alternatively, Pierce County’s Council should have reconstructed its law enforcement obligations so that staffing was sufficiently safe.”
Moving forward officer safety must be a priority.
The lawsuit and tragic death of Deputy Daniel McCartney certainly demonstrate the dire need for sufficient staffing. May all of our brothers and sisters who have been placed in unnecessary danger and who have paid the ultimate sacrifice rest in eternal peace.
Is there hope for the future? After some members of the city council and numerous community activists have repeatedly advocated defunding or actually disbanding the Minneapolis, Minnesota, Police Department, the city is now planning to spend $6.4 million to hire more police officers.
The Minneapolis city council voted unanimously to approve additional funding for the police department, which currently only has 638 officers who are available to work, down 200 from normally authorized staffing.
The question that remains is will the best applicants come forth and be accepted? After all, who is going to want to apply to work under the current conditions there and elsewhere? The future of policing and safety are hanging in the balance.
