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But nearly a year into the uprising against police brutality and systemic racism, when a traffic stop can still so quickly turn deadly for Black Americans, like Daunte Wright, it's harder than ever for police departments to recruit and retain officers, particularly those of color. Nationwide, fewer people are applying for the job, and more experienced cops are retiring or quitting in droves, threatening public safety as major cities witness crime spikes.
但是，反对警察暴行和系统性种族主义的抗议活动已经进行了将近一年，但对美国黑人来说，一次路检仍可迅速致其死亡，比如唐特·赖特，警察局招募和留住警员比以往任何时候都要困难，尤其是有色人种。全国范围内申请这一职位的人越来越少，越来越多有经验的警察纷纷退休或辞职，随着大城市犯罪率的飙升，公共安全也受到了威胁。
"People are just resigning because they've had enough," says West Lafayette police chief Troy Harris in Indiana. "There's a cloud over law enforcement."
“他们辞职是因为已经受够了，”印第安纳州西拉法叶警察局长特洛伊·哈里斯说。“执法上空笼罩着一片乌云。”
Harris' department, which serves some 86,000 people, saw a 75% drop in applications from July to December 2020 and had six officers retire or walk off the 50-member force last year. Of the 37 applicants that year, only one was Black, according to the chief. "If we can't keep up, it'll be a burden and a significant problem," says Harris, who worries he'll have to reassign community-outreach officers to fill patrol shifts.
哈里斯警局共有约86000名员工，2020年7月到12月期间申请人数下降了75%，去年有6名警官退休或离职。局长表示，那一年的37名申请者中只有一个是黑人。“如果我们跟不上，这会是个负担，会是个大问题，”哈里斯说，他担心自己将不得不重新分配社区外展官员填补巡逻轮班。
In Aurora, Colo., where 23-year-old Elijah McClain died after police held the unarmed Black man in a choke hold, at least 87 people resigned, retired or were fired from the police department in 2020, compared with 54 the year before, according to the agency. Twenty more employees left the force in the first 40 days of 2021 alone—nearing the number for all of 2015—just as the city is experiencing a significant increase in major violent crimes, including assaults and robberies.
在科罗拉多州奥罗拉，23岁的黑人伊利亚·麦克莱恩因手无寸铁被警察掐住而死亡。根据该机构的数据，相比于2019的54人，2020年有至少87人从警察局辞职、退休或被解雇。仅在2021年的头40天就有20多名员工离职(接近2015年全年的离职人数）。与此同时，该市的袭击和抢劫等重大暴力犯罪事件有显著增加。
"There's no pretty picture down the road," says Los Angeles County sheriff Alex Villanueva. The sheriff says that homicides and assaults are "going through the roof" but that his agency is "probably the most understaffed" in the nation, with less than one deputy for every 1,000 residents. "It's pretty grim," Villanueva says.
“未来不会有什么美好的景象，”洛杉矶县治安官亚历克斯·维兰纽瓦表示。他说，凶杀和袭击案件正在“飙升”，但他的机构“可能是全国人手最不足的”，每1000名居民中只有不到一名副手。“情况相当严峻，”维兰纽瓦说。
From 2013 to 2016, the number of full-time sworn officers in the U.S. dropped from roughly 725,000 to 701,000, according to the BJS. About 63% of police leaders surveyed by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) in 2019 reported a decrease in the number of people applying for police-officer positions over the past five years. In that time frame, 41% said their officer shortage has worsened. Job applications have plummeted about 50% in Seattle and 70% in Jefferson County, Colorado, the PERF survey found.
根据BJS的数据，从2013年到2016年，美国全职宣誓就职的警官人数从大约72.5万人下降到70.1万人。根据警察执行研究论坛(PERF)2019年的调查，约63%的警察领导报告称过去5年申请警察职位的人数有所减少。这段时间内有41%的人说他们的警官短缺情况更严重了。PERF的调查发现，西雅图和科罗拉多州杰斐逊县的求职申请数量分别下降了50%和70%。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
