Police officer staffing throughout the US is lagging. According to a report from the Marshall Project in January of this year, from March 2020 to August of 2022, the number of government workers across the country fell by 5%. That equated to roughly 980,000 jobs.
In contrast, the number of police officers fell by 4%, or 18,000 fewer officers working throughout the US. Speaking at the monthly meeting of the southwest Missouri Democrats Wednesday, Joplin Police Chief Sloan Rowland says the downturn has affected his community.
"We have 110 sworn officer positions; we're ten down right now, so we're needing to hire. If you know anybody that wants to be a police officer, send them my way. Cheap plug, but we need help. So we have a 100 positions, but all those positions don't stop cars."
Chief Rowland also spoke about minority recruitment. He says the JPD has ten native Americans currently on the force, seven females, and three Latino officers. Sloan also said that the department needed help retaining American officers due to being in demand and higher salaries offered by other departments.
