I was startled to see these figures.
A retired Chicago Police Department Chief of Detectives, Eugene Roy, describes the situation.
… police in Chicago are understaffed and under supported by leadership, which has led to plummeting morale and skyrocketing anxiety.
“The suicides and the current climate go hand in hand,” Roy said, explaining that police officers are no longer viewed like they were in Norman Rockwell’s iconic 1958 “The Runaway,” the painting of a young boy and a police officer that has become synonymous with the “protect and serve” aspect of law enforcement.
“We’ve gone from that vision to the police being vilified at every turn,” Roy said. “Officers are the subject of vilification, disrespect, false claims, and they’re not being supported by the government agencies that employ them.”
The police staffing situation in Chicago is dire, Roy said, and the hostile climate has resulted in a mass exodus of police officers, including 2,600 who have retired over the last four calendar years.
“What’s really telling is that during the same time period, 632 officers have resigned,” Roy said. “That means they’ve left the Chicago Police Department before they’re eligible for a pension. The vast majority of them are being employed by other police agencies and they are leaving the Chicago Police Department in droves.”
The mass retirements and resignations, which the city has not replaced as part of a plan Roy calls a “stealth defunding,” has created a nightmare scenario for officers patrolling the streets.
“They’re canceling days off and putting people on 12-hour shifts to make up for this personnel shortfall,” Roy said. “You have people that are working through horror stories like 18 straight days without a day off. You can’t function that way.”
There’s more at the link.
It’s the same in almost every big “blue” (i.e. Democrat-controlled) city these days. Crime is increasingly out of control, the police are increasingly blamed by their political bosses for being part of the problem rather than the solution, and the people of the city are left in the lurch, to endure rising crime, violence and anti-social behavior. The politicians don’t care. They’re marching to the beat of their own politically-correct, progressive, quasi-socialist drummer.
I can only repeat what I and many others have said for many years: Get out of big cities. Now. It’s your only way to protect yourself from these problems. If you’ve been fortunate enough to have been insulated from them until now, be very sure that won’t last. Sooner or later, the social breakdown in our country is going to get to the point where they come after you, too.
The numbers don’t lie. Mathematics is inexorable, and undeniable, and unavoidable. Reduce your law enforcement numbers, and your criminal numbers will go up. Vice versa also applies . . . but nobody’s willing to do that today. Our so-called “leaders” will make sure they have enough police in protective details to be spared the consequences of their failures. The rest of us won’t have that luxury.
Peter
Given your last point, I'd be curious to see how many officers are on VIP details; I bet the number has grown significantly over the same timeline.
In Chicago, Beetlejuice has a security detail of 72 cops on 3 shifts for herself, beyond the detail protecting the Mayoral Residence, where she does not live.
The real problem, once all the good has departed the cities, the turdbirds will start venturing out of the urban areas. It's possible that our current trajectory will lead to South African style crime with hijacking ands raids on farms, things we don't see alot of here, yet.
It is part of the Democrat/Leftist/Liberal World Order plan in this country to get rid of local police forces so that a "national" police force only answerable to Washington D.C. can be created when the local forces can no longer do their job. The Democrat/Leftist/Liberal World Order need that to enforce serfdom on this Country.
Excellent source of info on the Chicago PD is @SecondCityCop on twitter. They had a great blog that they had to quit because the brass were determined to out them.
Second City Cop had been an anonymous group of Chicago Police reporters / authors for 10+ years. Beetlejuice got Fed alphabet help, probably at the NSA level, to identify them. They got word of that, and shut down.
SCC still publishes the occasional article at Chicago Contrarian.
BillB
You are correct. They have been wanting to implement a national police force since at least the 70's, "to ensure racial equality" etc. They have unlimited immunity, as well, so good luck remedying atrocities.
The other part of the problem is that when your police force is despised, pretty soon they will be despicable. Happened to the military in the 60s and it didn't recover until Reagan. If it had not been for the Southern contingent we might not have recovered the military.
Mayor Beetlejuice openly hates cops and White people and this is the end-result.
Ah, with dogs and the dead voting reliably "D" in Chicago, not like there is any chance anyone of another party will get elected… Since I grew up in that area, pretty familiar with it and while the "Second City Cop" blog has gone dark, there is a site called "Hey Jackass" that does a great job presenting the unbiased statistics for the city… And it is pretty horrifying. Most of the guys I know up there who are Police officers are just counting down the days until they can retire and escape… Or taking jobs far, far away from Chicago/IL…
No wonder Chicago police are retiring.
Not only are their hands tied, they literally can no longer even chase people on foot who run away from them or commit "minor" offenses.
Talk about giving criminals free reign.