Dangers Of Police Work Hurting Recruitment Of New Officers
(CBS) -- Police murders are up and police recruits are down. CBS 2's Mike Parker shows us the struggles.
In Chicago and many other American cities, it seems to be getting harder and harder to recruit police officers. Applications have been going down dramatically in recent years. Ask the police commissioner in Philadelphia.
"Right now, policing is not the most attractive occupation that they could probably get into," said Commissioner Charles Ramsey.
Among the reasons - the danger of the job. Just days ago, a Texas sheriff's deputy was ambushed. Deputy Darren Goforth was shot and killed as he refueled his patrol car.
And then Tuesday, the shooting death of Fox Lake Police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz during a foot chase. It stunned residents who knew him and it stunned Mayor Donny Schmit as well as officers who searched for the killers.
"Understandably our officers are having a very difficult day today," said Mayor Schmit.
Since the start of 2013, the FBI estimates that 106 U.S. police officers have been, in the bureau's phrase, "feloniously killed in the line of duty."
The tragic shooting in Fox Lake Tuesday was the third law enforcement fatality in Illinois this year. Mayor Schmit put it more personally, he said, "We lost a family member."