This is correct, and explains it for many other U.S. cities.

The double whammy of defund the police and COVID.

Many police tend to run conservative, and many retired within the last 5 years because of vaccine mandates and constantly being attacked by the media and politicians. They decided not to put up with it.

I know a police captain and he said recruitment situation is really bad. They can't hire enough people, so they have to dig deep and relax requirements. It used to be that if you ever had a drug history, you wouldn't be able to join. Now, you just have to have been sober for a year. (I am talking about LA)

BTW, @Cje95, now that MathJax is implemented you have to be careful if using dollar signs. Make sure you don't use double dollar signs $$ because that causes you enter math mode.