The Thinning Blue Line: The Growing Exodus of Police Officers

The Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) is down by 300 officers. With an authorized force of 1,328, it now has just 1,038. At the end of July this year, another 95 officers---sergeants, lieutenants, and administrative staff have the option to hang it up.  Why are so many experienced  police officers leaving?

The Louisville Metro Police Department has faced decades of mistrust from officers and the community going back to the city/county merger 2002 when dozens of county officers decided to leave rather than to be part of the newly created metro police department (which was, in fact, merely an expanded city police department). In many ways, the seeds of public distrust were planted in 1975/76 when officers were required to maintain order during the deeply opposed court ordered forced school busing.

However, it was the deaths of Breonna Taylor and David McAtee which ignited the exodus. Breonna Taylor was shot in May 2020 and killed in a botched police drug raid while Mr. McAtte, the owner of a popular BBQ restaurant in Louisville's predominately black West End, was killed in June by the Kentucky National Guard amid protests following Taylor's death (then police chief Robert White was fired shortly thereafter over the shootings, allegations of a cover-up, and concerns relating to unapproved overtime).        

To offset the shortages of officers, the city's Democrat mayor, Greg Fischer, and the Democrat dominated Metro Council authorized $218 million for the 2023 LMPD budget; $25 million more than it currently receives. This represents nearly 1/3 of the city's general fund. Nevertheless, shortages continue amid a complete distrust of top management, including the newly appointed Police Chief Erika Shields (she was the police chief, albeit an unpopular one, from Atlanta Georgia).

As an aside, the distrust and distain also extends to the current mayor, Greg Fischer as well. Fischer has been mayor since 2010 and has continued to earn poor marks in the city's low and middle class areas such as Okolona, Fern Creek, Valley Station, and Pleasure Ridge Park. His popularity among minorities as well as the police department and Metro Council (which has its own popularity problems) remain low.

LMPD has been looking for minority candidates to fill its depleted roll. It has dropped height, education, and test score requirements to make that happen, but with the shortages, almost anyone without a criminal record and in decent health will do (and even that's kinda sketchy). A new requirement say you can't "have used, possessed or sold a narcotic in the last six years"!  Like other police departments, the LMPD is trying to steal replacements wherever it can by offering lateral transfers higher salaries and improved benefit packages (fully funded pensions remain a ongoing problem)

June of 2022 had its largest new police class in three years---31 applicants, but that's far short of its previous class sizes of 48. Recently that number has been around 18 to 19 seats filled, making the 31 recruits appear increasingly more like an aberration rather than a correction.

The department remains predominately white and male (current recruitment is 71% white and male).  Females make up just under 14% of the force while men are over 86%. Whites in general (men and women) are almost 81% of the force. Blacks of both genders comprise 13.87% while 3.32% are Hispanic. Asians comprise 1.46% and Native Americans are just 0.20%.  The largest age "bubble" is between 26 and 45 years old.  

As stated above,  the money situation has improved.  The average salary after two years is now $71k plus benefits, which is a significant improvement, but the long hours, lousy shifts, and high stress environment of police life remain. LMPD Union President Ryan Nichols calls the retention situation  "dire" and added that at the present rate, the matter could become catastrophic in short order.

Minneapolis was the epicenter of the police protests. It's where George Floyd was killed in May 2020 by Officer Derek Chauvin, one of four officers called to investigate a possible counterfeit $20 dollar bill by a store clerk.  Floyd was subsequently detained (Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds) and died shortly afterwards (an autopsy found drugs in his system which were likely strong contributing factors to his death). Since the incident which captured the world's attention. Minneapolis has lost well over 300 of its officers.

Police retirements have jumped by 45% and resignations have increased 18%. The western Minneapolis community of Morris will disband its police force after 140 years of service by the end of the year. The reason? Not enough officers. The 5,200 strong community will use the Stevens County Police Department for its law enforcement needs.

With the decline in officers, amid demands to "defund the police" and "community monitoring", crime has skyrocketed across Minneapolis. Last year there was a record number of murders---62.  As of this March, there were 55. Carjackings for 2021 totaled 2,423. In the first third of 2022 there had already been over 3,000! 4,969 assaults were reported in 2021. By the end of the first quarter, there were already 5,573 with no relief in sight.

Back in Louisville, the situation isn't any better.  Louisville is ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the country (in one report where "100" was the safest and "0" was basically a Dodge City, Louisville was ranked "5"). Another national site rated Louisville an "F" when it came to crime (along with its school system). Louisville's murder rate is more than double the national average and exceeds much larger cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, and Atlanta.

Violent assaults in Metro Louisville are also double the national average as are carjackings. Rapes, thankfully, are well below the national average while armed robberies, burglaries and thefts are all about 25% higher than average.

In Asheville North Carolina, more than 1/3 of the police force has quit, resigned, or retired. In New York City, one of the largest police departments in the nation, 2,600 officers called it quits in 2020. In Seattle, resignations and retirements more than tripled, 219 compared to 77. In Philadelphia, which has been racked by an increase in crime, has seen over 79 officers take early retirement thus far this year.

Chicago, a city notorious  for its crime and corruption, has been hemorrhaging police officers and civilian staff. As of April 2022, 300 officers had left. In March there were 11,669 men and women in blue. In 2021 there were 12,739, down 560 from the year before, which was further down 749 from 2019!  For 30 years, the city has never had less than 12,000 officers on duty. Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown called the exodus "generational", meaning it wasn't just the rookies leaving or the "old timers". It's across the board with newbies and experienced officers turning in their badges, along with staffers.

The reason for the mass departure of officers stems from several factors, but most notably from Mayor Lori Lightfoot's edict that everyone had to be vaccinated against Covid-19 whether they wanted to be or not. In addition, the department has seen its budget repeatedly sliced amid calls to "defund" the police (in 2020 the budget was cut by $59 million), along with an increase of assaults, mandatory overtime and a reduction in compensation.

San Francisco is facing a massive exit of police officers. San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said that he's worry that nearly a quarter of the departments staff will walk out as their early retirement dates near.  Thus far, the city is already down by 600 officers with more expected to leave, and it gets worse.

According to Chief Scott, for every 50 officers leaving, only about eight to ten recruits are taking their place (on average, about 25 apply with roughly half being cut for one reason or another before graduating). Like most other cities, San Francisco is trying to lure officers from elsewhere with offers of more money and benefits thanks to an increased budget.

However, as Chief Scott admits, he's competing with nearly every other police department in the nation. He's also faced with the fact that San Francisco is one of the most expensive place in the country to live, especially if you're coming from out of state. As an aside, in a recent poll, 65% of residents in the Bay Area said that fear of crime was what kept them from coming to downtown San Francisco

According to the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington DC based policy institute, a study of 200 departments nationwide showed retirements (regular and early) were up 45% while resignations rose by 18% over the period from April 2020 to April 2021. In departments with more than 500 officers, the retirement rate was over 30% while new recruitments were under 5%. Those are unsustainable numbers.

Cities like Louisville and Minneapolis weren't the only ones with out of control crime in the face of fewer officers. According to the Police Executive Research Forum, most communities were experiencing a sudden increase in violent crimes like murder, shootings, and carjackings, as well as thefts after the mandatory Covid quarantines were lifted. Large cities have had a 24% increase in killings thus far in 2022, which followed a 30% increase in 2021. By the way, don't think for a moment that criminals aren't paying attention to and targeting these areas where officer shortages are occurring. 

Yes, it's true that the police are increasingly militarized, but they face criminals and gangs with the firepower of professional militias.  According to the FBI, in 2021 129 officers died. Of those, 73 were killed in the line of duty (23 of those were unprovoked attacks while 8 were ambushed). 56 died in accidents (17 of those were pursuits or  were responding to a crime in progress). This total represents 27 more deaths in the line of duty than in 2021.

In today's two tier judicial system, too often the testimony of someone is devalued or their guilt is determined based on the perceived income level, origin, or color of their skin while an officer, politician, or judge walks despite evidence of their guilt. Meanwhile, the wealthy and powerful don't even come close to facing the same "justice" ordinary citizens deal with and even fewer face the true consequences of their actions. 

Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions. The deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, David McAtee, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, or Tamir Rice and others are more than regrettable. They are a national tragedy, as is every lost life due to a crime. Many were, for the most part, avoidable.  However, not all the blame belongs on the shoulders of the police. 

First and foremost is restoring discipline and respect for authority at home and in the schools. There's a direct correlation between doing what a teacher tells you and what a police officer tells you. However, the repercussions can be much worse.  When a cop tells you to do something, stop what you're doing, don't mouth off, and do what you're told. You keep your hands where they can be clearly seen. Don't make sudden moves, and you sure as heck don't run! I can guarantee that you're not faster than a 9mm and you're sure as hell not bulletproof. This isn't about race, gender, religion, or anything else. It's about keeping everyone safe.

 In most cases you'll get a warning or ticket and sent on your way. Get cocky, you may get a free ride downtown. If you do something stupid, you may get a trip to the hospital or morgue. If there's a problem with the stop, go see a lawyer as soon as you can and let them handle it. Otherwise chalk it up to experience. It's better to be a live plaintiff than a dead victim.

Yes, police officers and first responders need more diverse hires along with diversity training. In fact, I think everyone needs diversity training. Perhaps it should be a mandatory class in high school alongside ethics and civics. Everyone is deserving of respect and even some empathy, but not due to some misplaced sense of entitlement or self importance. But because it's the right thing to do as a human being. However, respect and empathy are a two way street. If you want it, you have to give it.

Police officers are resigning or retiring enmasse because to significant degree the public has turned against them, thanks in large part to the media. They have lost the public's respect.  Calls to defund the police force has resulted in a decrease in their ability to do their job, which is to keep the public safe and maintain order. They also must deal every day with people under the worse of circumstances. That's where the empathy comes in.

 

If you want to know more, please take a look at the links below. If you enjoyed the article, please consider passing it along to others and don't forget to subscribe. It's free! Lastly please be sure to "like" us on whatever platform you use to read A/O. It helps with the algorithms and keeps our articles in circulation. Thank you!  

 

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Minneapolis Police Department Down 300 Officers from spring2020

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The Supreme Court Merry-Go-Round: Filling Justice Breyer's Seat

The United States Supreme Court is, or so we're told, the "Great Arbiter of America".  It is supposed to be beyond reproach; the very embodiment of justice. In a country where we are built on the rule of law, there is no authority greater than the Supreme Court and the nine black robed justices. But just how true is that, and what are we to make of President Biden's campaign promise to appoint a "female person of color" to the bench should he have the occasion to do so?

Well, as most of you should know, President Biden is now presented with the occasion to make such an appointment with the recent announcement of Justice Stephen Breyer, one of the three remaining liberal leaning Justices on the High Court, that he would step down at the end of the current term.

Justice Breyer has served on the bench for 27 years. At 83, it also makes him the oldest member on the bench too. Appointments are made by the president, and while the nominees are "suppose" to be non-partisan, that doesn't mean they don't pick sides.

In fact, given that the appointments must be approved by Congress, there's been countless fights over the ideological leanings of nominees. The goal is to select someone who leans ideologically the same as you or your party, and to "stack" the court with as many like minded  individuals as possible. That, in turns, helps to ensure that various legislative challenges go your party's way for decades to come.  Thus, we don't end up with a truly non-partisan court which decides solely on the facts of case, but on their ideological  bent.  

It also means that, despite the pedestal we place the justices on, they are far from infallible. First, it's important to understand that the court makes two types of decisions. The first is adjudicative, which deals with procedures and precedent. The second is legislative. These deal with "real world" issues.

A former Justice, Harry Blackmun, admitted in 1984 that there were limitations to the court's opinions, especially when it came to real world facts. He went on to say that when it came to real world issues, the court wasn't always "100% correct", which is an understatement.  What kind of mistakes are we talking about?

One of the most infamous is the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford decision in which the court held that blacks could not be considered American citizens, which undid the "Great Compromise" and all but guaranteed there would be no peaceful resolution to the issue of slavery.  

Then there was the Civil Rights Cases of 1883 which shot down a previous decision of 1875 over protecting the civil rights of recently freed black slaves and prohibiting racial discrimination. It also ruled that the enforcement provisions of the 13th and 14th amendments did not allow Congress  to prevent non-governmental discrimination.  

How about Buck v. Bell in 1927? It upheld that those with mental disabilities could be involuntarily sterilized for the "protection and health of the state". Thank you Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes for that bit of wisdom.   

How about something a little more recent? Let's go with Korematus v. United States from 1944. Here the nine justices upheld the internment of Japanese Americans and U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry. They ruled that the need to prevent espionage (with or without reason to suspect) outweighed the individual rights of U.S. citizens.

In 2000, we had the Bush v. Gore decision which affected a presidential election. In what was clearly a partisan decision, five of the Republican justices decided that George W Bush had won the presidential election, while the four Democratic appointed justices said the Al Gore had won. Of course, both sides were wrong as the decision was not up to the High Court, but, according to the Constitution, was to be decided by Congress.  

There is Kelo v. City of New London in 2005 by which the High Court ceded to the government of New London (Connecticut) the right to step in and "condemn" someone's private property for the sake of taking it and giving it to someone else (in this case, to a private developer for the alleged purposed of a "comprehensive redevelopment plan", ie: low income housing or shopping mall. Anyone for a game of Eminent Domain?

Remember the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 when a Exxon ship carrying tons of raw crude oil ran aground and broke up causing a near total environmental catastrophe? It affected hundreds thousands of wildlife, including 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 247 bald eagles, 22 Orca whales, approximately 250,000 seabirds and untold numbers of fish and other marine life, not to mention 1,300 miles of coastline.

Well, in 2008, the matter went to the Supreme Court (Exxon Shipping Co v. Baker) after years of lower court litigation. Exxon had previously been found guilty and fined $5 billion dollars, the court decided that Exxon could not be fined punitive damages, and was subject to solely to compensatory damages. In English, the fine was reduced from $5 billion to $500 million, but that's not the end of it.

Following the court's illogical decision, Exxon's stock jumped in value, making the company $23 billion dollars over two day!  In addition, the company's court order cleanup operation (and PR commercials patting itself on the back) were all tax deductible; the company didn't pay a penny in taxes.  Lastly, Justice Samuel Alito, had to recuse himself from the case because (ready for this?), he owned stock in Exxon.

The last case we'll mention is perhaps the most damning in the long run since it effectively destroyed the democratic element of America's Republic, transitioning the country from a Republic to a Corporatocracy.   The case is the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision. This misruling claimed that corporations were "people" and not just entitled to the same rights as flesh and blood people, but when it came to politics and money, corporations had more.

The decision equated "free speech" with money, and implied that those with more money had greater "free speech". It also allowed corporations to come out of the shadows and play kingmaker out in the open. They could give what they wanted to whom they wanted. Meanwhile, us mortals were still capped in our donations. It, in effect, removed the ordinary voter from the political process.

There is one more law I want to briefly touch on before moving on to Biden's potential nominees, and  that's the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is but one of several similar laws. That law, which was perhaps one of the most powerful ever passed,  did, among other things, prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, religion, age, gender, or national origin. It's been modified to include sexual orientation or disability. Keep that in mind as we move forward.

It's being reported that the Biden Administration is looking at around eleven individuals to fill Justice Breyer's seat. All eleven are black females. They all have differing backgrounds, some with little experience on a federal bench, while others have served for several years.

One, NAACP Legal Defense Educational Fund President, Sherrilyn Ifill, has no judicial experience at all.  Another, J. Michelle Childs, a U.S. District Court Judge, is one of a very few who didn't go to an Ivy League school, along with Delaware Supreme Court Justice Tamika Montgomery-Reeves.

Leondra Kruger, who is a California Supreme Court Justice, is a odds on favorite, and at 45, would be one of the youngest to sit on the Supreme Court. She is considered a "moderate". She has been an acting deputy solicitor general and a deputy assistant attorney general. However, she has no federal judicial experience.

7th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge, Candace Rae Jackson-Akiwumi, has done a good job, but she's held the position for less than a year.  L. Song Richardson is the president of Colorado College and past dean of UC Irvine Law School. She is not just black but also part Asian, but again, lack federal judicial experience. So, who is the top pick?

Right now, Ketanji Brown Jackson is the top choice. She is currently serves as Washington DC Circuit Court Judge. She has undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard. She clerked for Justice Breyer. She's a former public defender. Even former GOP Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan likes her. But then again, he's related to her by marriage.

There are others in the mix, including a few outrageous outliers like Michelle Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris. Some have even suggested Hillary Clinton! That make history (for all the wrong reasons), but alas, Hillary doesn't qualify for obvious reasons.

While Biden said he would nominate a "woman of color" to the Supreme Court if he got a chance, none of those on the short list are Hispanic, Asian, or Native American. While Hispanics have a representative (Sonia Sotomayor), and there have been several females justices (with three currently serving), as well as former Chief Justice Sandra Day O'Connor there has never been a Asian, Native American of either gender to serve on the Supreme Court.

While Biden is committed to nominating a black female, there has been a black justice in Clarence Thomas. So, why not a Native American or Asian? Lauren King, a federal judge in Seattle would be a great choice. King, a Muscogee Tribal member, is only the sixth Native American to ever be appointed to a federal bench in its 232 year history.  She has served as a pro tem appellate judge for the Northwest Intertribal Court System since 2013.

There's also Jacqueline Arroyo who has served on the Superior Court of Santa Clara County since 2008, and she is of Asian descent.  Pamela Ki Mai Chen has on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and has Asian ancestry. She previously served in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department. As an aside, she is also the only openly gay person to serve on a federal bench.  Cathy Bassoon has Hispanic and East Indian roots, has served on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania since 2011.   

In short, there are other, more obviously higher qualified "women of color" than exclusively black female candidates who've never had any representation of any sort on the Supreme Court. Secondly, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (and similar legislation) clearly prohibits discrimination of the basis of age, gender, religion, orientation, handicap, or race.  It's about hiring the best qualified person for the job. Period.

Biden's promise was an obvious violation, if not in fact, then in spirit of the various federal anti-discriminatory laws. He could have privately thought whatever he wanted, but by opening his mouth to pander votes, he potentially violated federal law by disqualifying better qualified males as well as Native Americans and Asians should they be excluded from serious consideration.  

The Supreme Court has had a lot of recent history of screwing up. Let's not perpetuate the screw ups by automatically eliminating the best qualified candidates from this or any other positions in or out of government.

If you want to know more, please take a look at the links below. If you enjoyed the article, please consider passing along to others and don't forget to subscribe. It's free! Lastly please be sure to "like" us on Facebook or whatever platform you use to read A/O. It helps with the algorithms and keeps our articles in circulation.

 

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