These States Support Their Police Officers Best (and Worst)
A career in law enforcement is no easy task. Police officers face life-threatening situations, scenarios where someone else’s life is in their hands, and criticism from seemingly all sides.
However, according to a new WalletHub study, police officers in certain states have it better than others.
Whether you’re thinking about becoming a police officer or know someone who is, these are the most and least police officer-friendly states.
Methodology
WalletHub evaluated 30 metrics important to police officers, breaking the metrics into the following three categories:
- Opportunity and competition
- Law enforcement training requirements
- Job hazards and protections
Under the opportunity and competition category, WalletHub analyzed factors such as the number of law enforcement officers per capita, the average starting salary of police officers, and their salary growth potential.
Some factors for the law enforcement training requirements category included the amount of police officer hours training required, whether states allow police work before basic training, and continued professional hours required.
Finally, the job hazards and protections category included factors like police body-worn camera legislation, investigation/prosecution on use of force by police officers, and the share of law enforcement departments carrying Naloxone (opioid overdose reversal medicine).
The D.C. Exception
WalletHub ranked each state among the different categories. They then used those rankings to calculate a total score for the best and worst states for police officers. The lower the number under each category, the higher the state ranked, with “1” representing that a state ranked the best in a given category.
For the purposes of this article, we only used states to rank the best and worst places for police officers. However, WalletHub also included Washington, D.C., in its data. For this reason, you’ll notice that some of the following scores have “51” as a ranking.
Desperate To Hire
Police departments have been struggling to attract new police officer candidates and retain the ones they currently have. In 2023, The Washington Post reported that the San Francisco Police Department alone was down nearly 30% of its allotment for police officers. At the time, they needed 500 more officers to be considered fully staffed.
So, what’s causing police officers to leave and Americans to turn their noses away from open positions?
According to current and former police officers that The Washington Post gathered information from, some of the reasons include:
- New police accountability measures after George Floyd’s homicide
- Criminal justice laws that want to reduce the number of people in jail
- An increase in community hostility in the areas where they police
Barely a Solution
Because some police departments are in such dire straits to hire, the FBI acknowledged that law enforcement departments in some areas have reduced their hiring standards to help increase the number of eligible candidates. Some of the standards they’ve eliminated or minimized include one or more of the following:
- Tattoo policies
- College educational requirements
- More leniency with prior drug use
- Reduced credit check standards
- More acceptance of minor arrest records
That said, the FBI names several issues that could come from certain reduced hiring policies, including an increased likelihood to use force to resolve situations, increased risk of injuries to the officers if they fall below traditional physical fitness standards, and corruption among those with poor credit.
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