Challenges Facing Law Enforcement Today
Asking police officers and those that support police to choose the biggest issue facing law enforcement is no easy task. The National Police Support Fund team recently attending National Police Week in Washington, DC, where they asked individuals to identify the number one issue facing law enforcement.
The options, in no particular order, included the following:
- Funding for Officer Safety Gear
- Police User of Crime-stopping and Deterrent Technologies
- Electing Strong Judges and Criminal Justice Officials
- Combating the American Drug Epidemic
- Fixing America’s Police Shortage
Individuals also had the option to report a different challenge not listed.
Approximately 100 responses were collected to the one-question poll during National Police Week. Overall, 24.4% of poll respondents shared that they believed the number one issue facing law enforcement was fixing America’s police shortage. Many individuals reported that their specific department is short numerous police officers, with one individual sharing that his department has over 100 openings for additional police officers.
The second biggest challenge facing law enforcement, receiving 22.2% of the responses, was that communities need to focus on electing strong judges and criminal justice officials. One respondent shared that sometimes the criminal justice system is simply a revolving door, with individuals being charged with a crime, released, and then committing the same crime again and being brought back to jail before the previous case had even closed.
Additional issues shared beyond those identified within the original poll question were challenges with the media and the resulting public perception, lack of funding, lack of department leadership, and the lack of mental health support for police officers.
Do you believe you have an issue facing law enforcement that was not included on our list? Send us an email at info@nationalpolicesupportfund.com. Responses will be used by National Police Support Fund in determining our direction for the upcoming elections.