How bad is this crisis? As you read these words, the city of Phoenix has 2,722 officers, 666 fewer than in 2008 (then 3,388). The national average for cities with populations over 250,000 is a ratio of 21 ⁄2 officers for every 1,000 citizens. This would equate to 4,250 officers based on the current population of Phoenix.
Phoenix city leaders must bolster the Phoenix police department budget to undo the organizational triage that has compromised solving cases and fighting crime.
Phoenix needs to double down on police hiring. We must aggressively recruit experienced officers willing to move from other agencies and send our recruiting team out of state to seek and hire the best and the brightest to join the law enforcement ranks. We must stop accepting this lack of police manpower as a fact of life and start re-emphasizing the value of keeping the residents of Phoenix safe.