We examine whether police resignations and retirements significantly changed in the two years following public backlash related to the police murder of George Floyd. We employ Bayesian Structural Time Series to compare observed trends in each agency to synthetic counterfactuals using monthly staffing data from fourteen large municipal policing and sheriffsâ agencies in the US. In the two years since the Floyd protests began, large metropolitan agencies have experienced significant increases in resignations, retirements, or both. One agency was unaffected, two saw small improvements, and eleven saw between 2.2% and 16% excess loss of sworn full-time personnel when compared to the synthetic counterfactual. These results reaffirm the importance of understanding how agency operational and personnel patterns have shifted since the summer of 2020.
This study found that most large police departments across the US experienced significant increases in officer resignations and retirements in the two years following the 2020 protests over George Floyd’s murder, with eleven of fourteen agencies losing between 2% and 16% more personnel than would normally be expected. These staffing losses matter because they can affect police departments' ability to respond to calls, maintain community relationships, and carry out daily operations. The research helps quantify how nationwide protests and criticism of policing have translated into real workforce changes within police agencies.
(AI-generated summary, v1, January 2026)
Citations: 5 (as of January 2026)