Durham Reporter

Fewer people are willing to take the oath to protect and serve, creating law enforcement staffing shortages across the nation and opening the door to rising crime rates. 

While the trend has spared no state, North Carolina is seeing more fallout as cities struggle to put an adequate number of officers on the streets. Asheville is one city that can’t find recruits for its police department.

"The Asheville Police Department’s staffing shortages continue. APD has lost 97 officers since May of 2020,” WLOS reporter Andrew James tweeted in January.

Durham faces a similar challenge. The Durham City Council had to issue pay raises among its police officers in an effort to increase retention rates, WRAL reported. Durham has the second-highest vacancy rate among all central North Carolina police agencies. As of April 5, the department had 102 officer vacancies, which translates to 19% of total officer positions being vacant. 

Why is it so difficult to find police recruits? Much of the blame is being put on how the public views law enforcement, because of controversy surrounding police reform and deadly use of force, Fox News reports. One 22-year-old who was close to finishing his Eastern Missouri Police Academy in January told Fox, "Knowing that you might not have a partner to respond fast because of the low number of officers right now at departments is one of my fears.” 

Across the nation, violent crime – which includes murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault – rose 4.6% between 2019 and 2020, to a rate of 398.5 crimes per 100,000 people in 2020, according to the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer. 2020 was the last full year for which statistics are available.

In late 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the murder rate in the U.S. rose by 30% between 2019 and 2020, marking the largest single-year increase since at least 1905. 

North Carolina has fared even worse, with violent crime rising 10.7% to 419.3 people per 100,000 between 2019 and 2020. Certain cities in the Tar Heel State have far outpaced that rate. An Asheville Daily Planet report from March, cited four North Carolina cities that had the highest violent crime rates in 2020. Wilmington came in at 685, Asheville at 805, Charlotte at 916, and Fayetteville at 995. 

The Daily Planet also looked at the climbing rates from 2016 to 2020. In that time span, North Carolina recorded a 13% increase in violent crime. Among the selected N.C. cities, Wilmington’s rate rose by 3% and Charlotte’s by 13%, but Asheville and Fayetteville saw increases of 31% and 32%, respectively. 

Now, leaders are struggling with the question of how to staunch the exodus of law enforcement personnel so the country can get a handle on crime rates.

The Violent Incident Clearance and Technological Investigative Methods Act, or VICTIM Act, of 2021 is a bill that would provide funding to local police agencies that would allow departments to hire and retain police officers, while providing necessary training and equipment. 

“Police departments across the country are fighting to contain this increase in violent crime but they are understaffed, under-resourced and struggling to hire and retain good, qualified officers,” Andy Edmiston, director of government affairs for the National Association of Police Organizations, told azbigmedia.com in explaining the need for the act or similar measures.