Police staffing shortages across America require creative solutions

Cities across America are facing national police shortages, and many are turning to innovative solutions to alleviate the pressure – including directing alternative responses through tools like the Police Priority Dispatch System (PPDS^®). P.P.D.S^® allows police departments to send civilian responders where law enforcement presence is not needed, freeing up police time for other emergencies. When law enforcement time is at a premium, this type of solution can be invaluable.

Unfortunately, law enforcement time is limited across the country. According to one recent research According to the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), the total number of sworn officers has declined by about 5% in recent years, from 83,497 in January 2020 to 79,464 in January 2023. Although hiring has increased since a dip in the COVID-19 crisis, the numbers are close to mirroring pre-COVID-19 levels – which are not enough to keep up with current openings.

“Agencies are losing officers faster than they can hire new ones,” the PERF study said, leaving departments across the country struggling to fill vacancies.

One such city, Indianapolis, has one record low of officers – down nearly 300 since 2019. In response to this low point, Indianapolis is resorting to requesting that Indiana State Troopers be brought into the city to help its dwindling police force.

Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said, “What you’re seeing across the country is being repeated city after city after city.” In fact, since 2019, major cities have shown hundreds or thousands of gaps:

• San Francisco: 410 officers short
• Los Angeles: 1,086 officers short
• Phoenix: 360 officers short
• Chicago: 1,367 officers short
• Washington: 467 officers short
• Houston: 90 officers short
• New York: 3,247 officers short
• Philadelphia: 1,140 officers short
• Baltimore: 418 officers short

In small towns like Goodhue and Morris, Minnesota, as well as Washburn, Illinois, the police shortage even causes departments to disband. This leaves local communities dependent on neighboring police departments or county sheriffs for law enforcement.

Shortages are caused by several issues, including changes in public perception of police officers, long hiring times, and increased police resignations. According to PERF, police officer layoffs have increased by approximately 47% in recent years, with 2,838 layoffs in 2019 and 4,175 layoffs in 2022. Additionally, police positions are difficult to fill due to the amount of training time required.

A possible solution to this problem is to increase alternative police responses to reduce pressure on strained forces. Alternative responses rely on citizens, social workers, behavioral specialists and other crisis-trained personnel to respond to 911 calls rather than dispatching police officers.

These types of interventions can be especially useful for mental health calls where callers require specialized assistance rather than law enforcement. One program – the New Jersey Monitor – even found that alternative responses avoided arrests or the use of force by police 95% of the cases. This shows that alternative responses can be effective not only in reducing the burden on local police, but also in creating safer communities.

The Police Priority Dispatch System (PPDS^®) – a decision triage tool powered by ProQA^® software and associated police protocols developed by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch^® (IAED) – allows Emergency Police Dispatchers (EPDs) to send these alternate responses directly from their workflow in ProQA^®a 911 solution for taking calls from Priority Dispatch^®if deemed appropriate by local police forces. Using ProQA® Police, police departments can better utilize their limited resources so that officers are available for high-priority incidents while civilian responders handle non-violent or low-risk calls. This type of innovation not only improves efficiency, but also shortens response times and helps prevent officer burnout.

Now that more and more agencies are adopting systems such as PPDS^® and alternative responses can give police departments facing shortages across America a lifeline to much-needed help.