America Has a Police Shortage

I t’s July 2023. In Los Angeles, police chief Michel Moore delivers a speech to the newly graduated class of the Los Angeles Police Department’s training academy. He states that being a police officer is the toughest profession in America. The graduates respond with cheers and throw their caps into the air. However, the graduation ceremonies hold a peculiar aspect that baffles even seasoned officers worldwide.

Los Angeles, with a population of 3.9 million, employs around 8,500 police officers to patrol its 469 square miles. But how many officers does Berlin have? After inquiring among educated individuals, the answer often falls between a quarter and a half of the size of the LAPD. Americans consider themselves to be overpoliced, a belief held by both conservatives and liberals, yet they fail to question that America spends more on law enforcement than any other developed nation.

To illustrate this, the author compares Los Angeles to Berlin, another major city with a similar population. Berlin has approximately 18,000 police officers, making its police force twice the size of Los Angeles’s. In Phoenix, which has a population similar to Munich’s, there are only 2,500 police officers, while Munich boasts nearly two and a half times as many. Similarly, Dallas has 3,100 officers, while Brussels, with the same population, has 6,700 officers.

During a conversation with Aurora’s police chief, Daniel Oates, he mentions that if he had 650 additional officers, similar to Zurich’s size, he would instantly focus on patrolling the city. Half of these officers would be assigned to patrol, ensuring faster response times and reducing the time it takes to reach high-priority calls.

The other 300 officers would address gaps in response times during specific hours, improving overall public safety. Oates even outlines a plan to utilize the extra officers effectively, highlighting the significant difference that additional police presence could make.