Police departments respond to nationwide shortage of officers

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) - A national study by the Police Executive Research Forum shows law enforcement agencies nationwide are losing officers faster than they can hire new ones.

Some departments reporting a 50% increase in resignations since 2020, according to the PERF study.

But why is this happening and how has this affected our local police departments?

Recruiting officer Lt. Val Wadsworth of the Pocatello police told Local News 8 they had been affected, but were fortunate to be far below the national trend.

"we're not down near as many as the national average is dropped as low as 50% at some agencies, mainly the larger ones in major cities," Wadsworth said. "And we have come nowhere close to that. We've been down a few, as many as 12 last year, but most of them have been in training and we're out of training right now. So we're down about five or six positions at this point."

He said the department is working to fill their open positions and that starts with training the best officers.

Former policeman Lynn Case directs the training at ISU's police academy. The academy trains police officers for departments across South East Idaho.

"I think this program's a little bit ahead of what others are doing because of the I bring in some extra instruction that they aren't doing over there," Case said. "Yesterday, we had 8 hours on de-escalation. which isn't being taught over in Meridian, but yet it's really important, I think."

According to the study officers could be leaving police departments for two reasons.

• A: The reputation of police has been harmed by events across the nation.
• B: The stresses of the job put a major strain on officer's mental and emotional health.

Case told us he works to recruit officers while letting them know the reality of the job.

"It's either all you want to do or you really need to go do something else," Case said. "Pay isn't good. Hours suck. People hate you or people try to kill you. But if you're calling is to help society. This is where this is where you can go to fulfill that calling."

And those words ring true for new police officer Bryhton harris. While other people might shy away from the negative reputation of police, Harris wants to set out to fix it.

"A lot of it was seeing some of the videos of the bad police officers online that we've always seen," Harris said. "You see some of the injustice that occurs. And I knew that if I wanted anything to change about that, if I wanted to make sure that people's rights were being upheld, to make sure that they were being protected, I couldn't just stand on the sidelines and expect other people to listen to what I had to say. I had to actually get in the fray and I needed to do things for myself."

Officer Harris had already completed 10 weeks of training with the police in Rigby, before traveling to Pocatello for an additional 13 weeks.

Now he only has three weeks of training left before he joins the police in Rigby full time.

"If you're considering a career in law enforcement, I would highly encourage it because you get to see what people go through and you can learn more about yourself and you can learn more about your fellow man," Harris said. "You can understand what they need to be able to have better days in the days that they're having. Because you got to be the change that you wish to see in the world, as a great man once said."

As part of our research, Local News 8 found more than 60 open positions in law enforcement agencies across the state. For more information, click HERE.