We have a crisis of police recruitment and retention in Suffolk County and elsewhere
As policing becomes more complex, there is a need to raise the qualifications and standards to become an officer. Credit: James Carbone
While issues like migrant crime, fentanyl overdoses, and gang murders grab headlines, the greatest threat to public safety is the plummeting rates of police recruitment and retention.
We're nearing crisis levels, and without properly staffed and experienced police departments, crime rates will spike in every category and public safety will decline.
In 1996, the Suffolk County Police Officer Exam had 41,504 applicants. The most recent exam application period in 2023 yielded just 13,455 applicants — a 67% drop.
The SCPD is not alone in this trend. After declining applicant turnout, New York City waived its test fee, reduced physical standards, and eliminated the requirement that applicants complete a timed 1.5-mile run. Los Angeles relaxed physical standards, made the written exam less difficult, and ended the process of disqualifying candidates for having financial issues. And Detroit is recruiting applicants even if they have outstanding low-level arrest warrants.
As policing has become increasingly complex, we should be raising the qualifications and standards needed to become an officer. Instead, we’re overlooking drug use, disregarding criminal history, and dumbing down written tests.
The job has always been dangerous, but it's not fear of risking your life that is driving people away. It’s risking your life for a society that seems to have turned its back on you. After years of demonization of police, who would want to be a cop?
Policing in America has never been tougher, as evident by recent spikes in violent crime and mental health issues. Then there’s our own mental health — suicide rates are a staggering 54% higher among law enforcement personnel than the general population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It has impacted us especially hard in Suffolk, as we lost four law enforcement officers to suicide within the past two months.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice convened a meeting of law enforcement and community leaders from around the country to talk about the crisis. The resulting report made several recommendations, like improving benefits and compensation incentives, eliminating caps on pensions and overtime, creating retention bonuses, and increasing time off.
In New York, we can make positive changes by rolling back pension tier reform, giving our recruits the same benefits as the generations that came before them.
We need to restore control to our communities that elect local district attorneys and end the practice of giving local oversight of police interactions with citizens to the state attorney general.
Craft laws that serve the people, not a woke agenda. Repeal bail reform so the justice system isn’t a revolving door of crime. Establish a National Police Bill of Rights and give officers protection against bogus complaints.
We must make suicide prevention training an essential part of the job, while also expanding tools like mental health peer groups that will improve public safety and protect our officers.
Most importantly, elected officials should stop caving to the anti-police agenda. Policing is an honorable profession, one of service and sacrifice to the same communities that raised these officers. All parts of our society should start treating law enforcement officers with respect and stop defining police by the actions of a few. Instead, acknowledge the reality that 99% of our police do a phenomenal job.
We need to recruit the best and brightest into the next generation of law enforcement. If we fail to do so, it will be a peril to public safety.
This guest essay reflects the views of Louis Civello, president of the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association.
