Philly Leader

Law enforcement staffing is an area of concern across the nation and police departments in cities like Philadelphia have begun altering hiring requirements to recruit more officers.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has removed residency requirements for police and prison guards, according to a recent report by CNN. Previously, newly hired recruits had to live in the city for a year before being appointed. The original rule was put in place in 2020 and was implemented to diversify recruits, but with a large amount of vacancies Kenney said that the rule will be lifted.

Sen. Doug Mastriano and Sen. Devlin J. Robinson recently released a memorandum informing the Pennsylvania Senate that they will be introducing legislation to allocate $100 million from the American Rescue Plan to create the “Law Enforcement Recovery Grant Program,” according to a tweet from Mastriano March 24.

“Police agencies across Pennsylvania are facing critical officer shortages,” Mastriano said on Twitter. “This comes at a time when violent crime is increasing. I’m teaming up with @SenRobinsonPA to introduce a bill that ensures police have the resources they need to safeguard their communities.”

In February the Philadelphia Police Department told CNN it was down 440 officers, or 7% of the of officers budgeted for the city. John McNesby, head of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), told CNN that the job was not very desirable and that getting people to apply was “a monster in itself.” He said that at a recruitment event, 600 people said they would attend but only 200 did and only 26 of those candidates advanced to the physical assessment.

A Fox News report in January said that police departments nationwide are struggling to retain officers and hire new ones. The report highlighted the negative public perception of law enforcement amid recent issues about police reform and the deadly use of force, as some of the reasons recruitment and retention are down.

A 22-year-old finishing his Eastern Missouri Police Academy told Fox it was unsettling to know that due to the low number of officers, “you might not have a partner to rely on.”

Violent crime, including murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, increased 4.6% from 2019 to 2020, which was a rate of 398.5 crimes per 100,000 people in 2020, the last full year of available data through the FBI, according to the Bureau’s Crime Data Explorer.

In the state of Pennsylvania, violent crime increased 27.3% to 389.5 people per 100,000 between 2019 and 2020, a significantly greater increase than the national rate, according to the FBI.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in late 2021 that the murder rate increased 30% nationally between 2019 and 2020. This is the largest single year increase since 1905.

The Violent Incident Clearance and Technological Investigative Methods (VICTIM) Act is a bill that would provide funding to local police agencies so they can hire and retain police officers, while providing training and equipment, according to AZBigmedia.

Andy Edmiston, director of government affairs for the National Association of Police Organizations, said “Police departments across the country are fighting to contain this increase in violent crime but they are understaffed, under-resourced and struggling to hire and retain good, qualified officers,” AZBigmedia reported.