Recently, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) noted that public safety agencies across the country continue to face staffing shortages. According to PERF, not long ago, law enforcement agencies typically received more than 100 applicants for every open position. They reported, “Today, most agencies face an increasingly urgent staffing crisis that is very different from ‘the way things used to be.’”

The percentage of police agencies indicating they are having a hard time filling positions has increased from slightly more than 20 percent in 2017 to close to 80 percent in 2022.