Chicago is on pace to lose more than 1,000 officers this year to resignation and retirement, the highest annual total since at least 2018.
And that was before the controversy over the vaccine mandate began to accelerate, WGN reports.
“There is a mass exodus,” says FOP President John Catanzara.
One caused, in part, by burnout and fatigue, leaving a smaller number of officers to fight a citywide surge in violent crime.
According to city data obtained by WGN Investigates, there was a total of 12,258 sworn personnel as of June 2021, down from 13,218 two years ago.
Fueling the decline is the 597 officers who resigned or retired through the first seven months of this year, nearly matching or exceeding the annual totals in recent years, data showed.
