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During the pandemic, nearly 75% of law-enforcement agencies altered recruitment and hiring practices, including canceling or adjusting polygraphs and physical-fitness assessments, according to a separate PERF survey of more than 140 agencies. In some cases, the changes succeeded in drawing applications. The Naperville police department in Illinois, which eliminated its $45 application fee in order to appeal to low-income recruits, saw applications double at the peak of protests over Floyd's death. More than 850 hopefuls applied to join the force throughout the summer, according to Naperville police chief Robert Marshall. Of the 455 applicants who moved on to take a written exam, 34 were Black men and women, more than double the number in the previous round of recruits in 2018.
PERF對140多家機構進行的另一項調查顯示，在大流行期間，近75%的執法機構改變了招聘和雇傭方式，其中包括取消或調整測謊儀和身體健康評估。在某些情況下，這些改變成功地吸引了申請者。伊利諾斯州內珀維爾警察局取消了45美元的申請費以吸引低收入的新警員。在針對弗洛伊德之死的抗議活動達到高潮時申請人數比之前多了兩倍。內珀維爾警察局局長羅伯特·馬歇爾表示，整個夏季有850多名申請者申請加入警隊。在參加筆試的455名申請者中，有34名是黑人男女，該數字是2018年上一輪招聘人數的兩倍多。
Jason Arres, the department's deputy chief, believes the applicants felt a "call to action," similar to what prompted him to leave his corporate career to become a police officer six days after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. "It's still a very noble profession," Arres says.
司法部副局長賈森·阿雷斯認為，申請者感受到的是一種“行動的召喚”，這和促使他在2001年9月11日恐怖襲擊事件發生6天后離開公司去當警察的原因類似。“這仍是一個非常高尚的職業，”阿雷斯說。
But unlike Naperville's, the overwhelming majority of agencies are struggling as more cops, hired during departmental expansions in the 1980s and '90s, reach retirement age. Traditional sources of new recruits, including the military and family members of current officers, are no longer filling the gap. And today's applicants, police chiefs say, are less inclined to work holidays, weekends and nights, or commit to a job that's getting harder and more dangerous.
但與內珀維爾不同的是，隨著上世紀八九十年代部門擴張期間越來越多的雇傭警察達到退休年齡，絕大多數機構都在苦苦掙扎。傳統的新兵來源，包括現役軍官的軍隊和家庭成員，已不再填補空缺。警察局長說，如今的申請者不太愿意在節假日、周末和晚上工作，也不太愿意從事越來越困難、越來越危險的工作。
"They want to live normally," says Benjamin Bliven, the police chief in Wausau, Wis. "We're human beings."
“他們想過正常的生活，”威斯康辛州沃索的警察局長本杰明·布利文說。“我們是人類。”
Police work is hard. Officers spend a great deal of their day dealing with social problems, including homelessness, mental illness and substance abuse. In tense encounters, their every move is recorded by body cameras or bystanders' phones. In 2020, more than 260 law-enforcement officers died in the line of duty, a 96% increase over 2019 and the most since 1974, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. More than half those deaths were caused by COVID-19. In 2019, the FBI says, 89 officers were killed on duty, including 48 who were gunned down or run over while making arrests, responding to disturbance calls or conducting investigations and traffic stops.
警察的工作很辛苦。警察每天都要花大量的時間處理包括無家可歸、精神疾病和濫用藥物等社會問題。在激烈的沖突中，他們的一舉一動都會被隨身攝像機或旁觀者的手機記錄下來。根據國家執法人員紀念基金的數據，2020年有260多名執法人員因公殉職，比2019年增加了96%，為1974年以來最多，其中有一半以上的死亡是由新冠造成的。聯邦調查局表示，2019年有89名警官在執勤時被殺，其中有48人在逮捕、響應騷擾電話或進行調查和交通攔截時被槍殺或輾壓。
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