America Is Losing Police Officers

Photo by Matt Popovich on Unsplash

(TargetLiberty.org) – Texas state troopers are made to help in Austin, Texas as the liberal-run capital city does not have enough police officers to keep the city safe in the streets. 

During an interview on “Fox & Friends First” on Wednesday, the president of the Austin Retired Officers Association said that the problem first started in 2020 following the rise of the “defund the police” movement. In the past three years, there has also been an increase in the number of officer departures and retirements which has also contributed to the shortage. 

Dennis Farris added that “In 2020, the city council, in its infamous wisdom, decided to defund the Austin Police Department” and proceeded to cut 150 positions for the department. They also continued to support activists who wanted to completely abolish the police department. All of these things continued the low morale among police officers in the city. As he pointed out, police officers are currently retiring as quickly as possible, and when they have the opportunity to switch departments they do. 

As he pointed out by the end of March 2023, there will be 88 officers that have retired within the year. He expects that by April that number would be closer to 100. Farris also pointed out that in order for a new officer to be able to replace a former officer they require years of training. 

This lack of police officers has been damaging to the city, which has been experiencing an increase in violent crime rates. “The traffic fatalities are going up” as well as there are no traffic enforcement officers in the streets of Austin right now.

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