NEW<\/span>You can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Small and mid-sized police departments are grappling with maintaining staffing levels that have, in some cases, dipped to their lowest levels in decades, but recruiters are finding new ways to attract new candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n Big-city police departments such as Chicago\u2019s are not the only jurisdictions facing hiring woes, as small- and mid-sized police departments, such as Missouri\u2019s Independence Police Department<\/a> and New Haven Police Department in Connecticut, are struggling to fill a record number of vacancies. Departments have, in some instances, reached some of the lowest staffing levels they’ve seen, representatives tell Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n “Right now, we\u2019re allocated 230 officers for our department for commissioned officers, and we are about 38 short,” Independence Police Officer Jack Taylor, the agency\u2019s public information officer, told Fox News Digital Thursday. “I\u2019ve been here 20-plus years. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen where we\u2019ve had that many officer vacancies.”<\/p>\n \n An Independence, Missouri, police vehicle at an incident in which a child was shot in November 2020. As a result, Independence Police Department<\/a> has had to pull officers from other units in the department, such as investigations, community services and the traffic unit, to cover patrols, Taylor said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Officers from the patrol unit are “the ones that go answer 911 calls and calls for service from citizens,” he explained. “We have to make sure that that\u2019s adequately staffed, and we don\u2019t have those people.<\/p>\n “The other units in the department tend to suffer because of that,” he added. “It kind of trickles down to the community not getting the type of service that we\u2019d like to provide.”<\/p>\n As a result of officers being moved to the patrol unit, Taylor said, “there\u2019s less detectives there to investigate your case.”<\/p>\n \n Photo from Independence Police Department Twitter “Your case is going to take a little bit longer to get assigned to a detective,” he added. “There\u2019s less traffic officers. There\u2019s less accident investigators responding to an accident.”<\/p>\n Taylor said he believed the issues his department is facing extend “nationwide.”<\/p>\n “Officers really haven’t been portrayed in the best light here lately,” Taylor said. “Even within the last couple of years, officers every day run the risk of being indicted, being sued, being killed \u2013 sometimes all three in the same call. I think people look at it and go, \u2018Do I really want to get into that mess?'”<\/p>\n New Haven Police Department<\/a> has experienced similar staffing struggles, with 72 vacancies as of Thursday, Capt. David Zannelli said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n This undated photo shows a member of the New Haven Police Department. “It\u2019s one of the lowest levels we\u2019ve ever been on,” Zanelli, of the department\u2019s Professional Standards & Training Division, said.<\/p>\n The department has 408 positions, but only 336 are filled. Zannelli attributed the vacancies to multiple issues, including anti-police rhetoric and an inability to offer\u00a0competitive compensation.\u00a0<\/p>\n “You have a lot of the criticism on policing \u2014 some of it warranted, some of it not,” Zannelli said. “The defund movement has taken a toll on us.”\u00a0<\/p>\n The department has also gone through contractual changes, which have altered the retirement package offered to new recruits.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Despite those small numbers or those low staffing numbers that my agency is at right now, my officers are working twice as hard,” Zannelli said. “Right now, our violent crime is lower than every other major city. And the town of Hamden, which is our neighboring town.”<\/p>\n Nonetheless, he said, the hard work comes at a cost to the officers.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I think the cost is, a lot of times, personal. And what I mean by that is the officers are missing time with their families,” Zannelli said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Small- to mid-sized police agencies account for the majority of departments nationwide, said crime and policing expert John DeCarlo.<\/p>\n GEORGIA POLICE OFFICER SAVES LIFE OF TODDLER WHO STOPPED BREATHING: ‘AN ANGEL SENT HERE FROM GOD’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n DeCarlo, a criminal justice professor for the University of New Haven\u2019s Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences, told Fox News Digital the police-to-citizen ratio has not been “keeping pace with the increase in population.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Taking a wide lens to police departments nationwide, only about 17 police departments cover jurisdictions with populations of more than one million people, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Really, the biggest number of police departments \u2026 are in the cities and towns with less than 2,500 people,” said DeCarlo, a former police chief and 34-year veteran of Branford Police Department in Connecticut. “And there are about 3,900, about 4,000 police departments that serve populations under 10,000.”<\/p>\n The southeast boasts the highest number of police officers, specifically Oklahoma, Kansas, north Texas and North Carolina, he said. And while the number of police officers has increased minimally over the past year, so has the population, DeCarlo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We saw a small increase of about four-tenths of a percent in police over the last year,” he explained. “However, we saw more of an increase in population.<\/p>\n “So, although there was that minuscule increase in police, there was a larger increase in population. So, what happens is the ratio of police to the number in the population goes down.”<\/p>\n Betsy Brantner Smith, a 29-year police veteran, said adequately staffing police departments nationwide has been “a big issue,” especially in departments that don\u2019t boast the same manpower numbers as those in major cities.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I don’t think most people know this: Most police departments are under 20 officers,” Brantner Smith told Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n When she\u2019s not serving as spokesperson for the National Police Organization, Branter Smith travels the country providing training and education to police departments.\u00a0<\/p>\n TEXAS DEPUTY KILLED IN CRASH WITH 18-WHEELER, ANOTHER INJURED DURING HOSPITAL ESCORT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n “Most police departments are not these ginormous agencies. And it’s already tough to attract people to those small departments,” she added. “Then, you introduce [the] defund the police [movement] and vilification of police, and it makes it very difficult.”<\/p>\n \n Fort Lauderdale Police officers walk past Caf\u00e9 Ibiza March 4, 2021, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Difficulties in recruitment can sometimes lead to a police departments hiring less qualified candidates, she noted. But smaller police departments often have one advantage, she added. Many police officers employed by big cities are now considering whether “they want to leave and go somewhere where they\u2019re more appreciated.”\u00a0<\/p>\n “What smaller departments need to do right now is \u2026 to get the word out that they’re hiring, and that they want to attract these big city candidates,” she said. “The problem is, is that takes money.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Fort Lauderdale Police Department\u2019s<\/a> recruiters erected billboards in Chicago and in New York City\u2019s Times Square.<\/p>\n “Wish you were here!” a Chicago billboard states. “WE\u2019RE HIRING.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Fort Lauderdale Det. Brandon Diaz, who works for the department\u2019s recruiting unit, said the use of the billboards is paying off \u00a0because 524 of the department\u2019s 530 positions are currently filled.<\/p>\n “We’ve done a great job with hiring,” Diaz said, “and I think the billboard had a lot to do with that.”<\/p>\n CHICAGO MASS SHOOTING: MAN CHARGED WITH ATTACKING POLICE OFFICERS AFTER KILLING 1 TEEN, INJURING 4 OTHERS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Thirty-two uniformed members left the Fort Lauderdale Police Department in 2019. Another 32 left in 2020, and 41 left in 2021, Diaz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “That was one-fifth of our workforce that we lost from 2019 until now,” Diaz went on.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Police Executive Research Forum conducted a survey that was published in March 2022 that found police departments have experienced “steady staffing decrease over the past two years.”<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/u><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The nonprofit agency surveyed its member agencies and received 184 responses, which showed “agencies still face serious staffing issues.”<\/p>\n “Hiring of new officers\u00a0seemed to rebound in 2021 after falling sharply in 2020,” PERF found<\/a>. “However, increases in\u00a0resignations\u00a0and\u00a0retirements\u00a0continued to put pressure on overall staffing levels of officers.”<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/640\/320\/independence-missouri-police-departmnet.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
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\n (Independence Police Department Facebook)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/640\/320\/independence-missouri-police-departmnet-twitter.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
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\n (Independence Police Department Twitter)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"This](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/640\/320\/new-haven-police-department-facebook.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
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\n (New Haven Police Department Facebook\u00a0)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Fort](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/640\/320\/GettyImages-1305384278.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
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\n (Joe Raedle\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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