Battling crime amidst officer shortages: Major cities resort to drastic measures

It’s a challenge plaguing police departments across the country, combating crime while simultaneously battling severe staffing shortages. Especially in major metropolitan areas, law enforcement leaders are having to resort to drastic measures to make the most of their dwindling departments.

Recently, Pittsburgh’s police department announced officers will no longer respond in person to calls that aren’t considered “in-progress emergencies.” Instead, calls related to crimes such as theft, harassment, and burglary alarms will be handled by a new telephone recording unit.

Pittsburgh’s police department is currently short about 100 officers.

Meanwhile, Baltimore City’s police department (BPD) says it is down nearly 600 officers. That’s about 100 more officer vacancies than this time last year.

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Law enforcement expert and former police officer Melissa Pinkelton warns if Baltimore continues to lose officers, they could soon be in the same position as Pittsburgh.

“They're going to have to take the resources and reallocate them,” said Pinkleton, “When you have your leaders, your commissioner and your mayor, not acknowledging the problem making efforts to change it and just pushing it off in somebody else then nothing will change and also morale will continue to go down.”

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At a press conference Monday, Mayor Brandon Scott was asked how he plans to address a recent rise in property and quality of life crimes. In his response, the mayor pointed to lawmakers in Annapolis, saying they're responsible for addressing the problem.

"When you look at the number of arrests from our police department, we can see that the arrests are happening, but the same people are getting let out," he said.