If too many cops have had enough, we won't have enough cops

Police officer Brittany Schommer decided to leave the Jordan, Minn., Police Department in May. Her departure came with little fanfare — no party, no cake, no retirement plaques. Nobody publicly congratulated and thanked her for a career of service and sacrifice.

By all accounts, Schommer was a great police officer and would have deserved all these things when she retired. But, like a growing number of police officers, she had had enough.

To be clear, Schommer not only resigned from the Jordan Police Department but left the policing profession before she was eligible to retire with a full pension and benefits — something nearly unheard-of in law enforcement even five years ago.

In her resignation letter, Schommer wrote:

I knowingly and willfully took the risk that I may have to give my life to save another. However, as I'm sure you can appreciate, the current anti-police climate is now demanding unreasonable risks to myself and others, and the peace and safety (physically, mentally, financially, etc.) of my entire family and potentially community. These are not risks that I can justify any longer and they have already been an additional strain on my family.

Sadly, Schommer is not alone. More and more peace officers across Minnesota are up and leaving the profession with no jobs or solid new career plans.

For large police departments that invest thousands of dollars in the training and onboarding of officers, it's deeply disappointing and problematic enough. For small departments like Jordan's, which has 10 sworn officers, it's devastating. (It's important to note that more than 70% of the municipal police agencies in Minnesota have 15 or fewer sworn officers.)

In Duluth, for example, the Police Department recently conducted a hiring process, trying to fill eight vacant officer positions. It attracted only 29 total applicants, and, of that pool, the department could only find seven candidates who were qualified to be police officers. Duluth is still looking to fill the final spot.

This same story is playing out across the state in both urban and rural police departments. Departments that once attracted hundreds of quality applicants for one opening are now barely getting multiple applications for a posting. We are currently at a 25-year low in the number of people taking the peace officer licensing exam, and our more than two dozen colleges and universities that offer law enforcement degrees are experiencing a steep decline in students interested in studying to be police officers.

At Alexandria Technical and Community College, one of the most respected Professional Peace Officer Education (PPOE) programs in our state, admissions are down significantly. Alex Tech is also seeing a high number of law enforcement students changing their majors midstream. In the Twin Cities, Hennepin Technical College, with its historically popular PPOE program, reports that this fall's enrollment is off as much as 25%.

It's difficult to say with certainty what's driving the exodus from the profession. Historically, whenever the economy is strong and jobs are plentiful, interest in becoming a police officer wanes. However, there's little doubt the events of the past several years — both locally and nationally — have magnified the level of scrutiny on police officers. An already stressful and often all-consuming career, policing has become even more mentally challenging, exhausting, scary and thankless.

Police officers know one mistake in the heat of a stressful, emotionally charged moment could cost them their careers and their lives as they know them.

Like the reasons behind these troubling trends, clear solutions are hard to pinpoint. Police departments and sheriff's offices are trying all sorts of new strategies to recruit and retain officers, even things like signing bonuses and housing credits. Although nice, the majority of the incentives are not working.

Most police officers, like Schommer from Jordan, become cops because they want to make a difference, not a million dollars. They want to feel valued for their service, sacrifice and commitment to giving back.

We should all be thanking Brittany Schommer and others like her, and figuring out how we can convince good cops to continue to keep our communities safe. Departments across the state are trying to do their part by stepping up community outreach efforts. They're working hard to improve relationships, ensure transparency and enhance trust. Hopefully our communities see this, appreciate it and support their police officers.

Otherwise, this troubling trend will only continue to erode the quality of public safety services in our communities and the overall quality of life we've come to cherish in Minnesota.