The Louisville, Kentucky, police union says that the department is in “dire straits” in terms of staffing after 200 officers walked off the job in 2020 and 2021.
Around 190 cops left their positions with the department in 2020, following a police-involved shooting that led to the death of Breonna Taylor. Despite subsequent protests, no officers were charged in Taylor’s death, though the city has now banned so-called “no-knock warrants, “prohibiting police from forcibly entering a home without first announcing themselves even if they have a warrant,” according to Buzzfeed News.
Like other police departments that have suffered amid the uptick in anti-police rhetoric and in the wake of the “Defund the Police” movement, Louisville is struggling to find individuals willing to take on a law enforcement role, according to the department’s police union.
“Nearly 190 cops left the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) in 2020 and 43 have stepped away from the Kentucky city’s agency so far in 2021, either choosing to retire or resign altogether, as law enforcement officials struggle to recruit new members to make up for a deficit in manpower,” according to Fox News.
“I would say that we’re in dire straits,” a union spokesperson told the network.
“Statistics provided by LMPD on Tuesday show the department has hired 26 new members so far this year, while 43 have left. The 1,069-person department falls 255 people short of its ‘authorized strength’ of 1,324 — the number of personnel it is authorized to employ,” Fox News added. – READ MORE
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