LEADERSHIP
PRESIDENT ' S MESSAGE
6 FALL . 2020
Chief Bruce Hedley GACP President & Chief of Lilburn Police Department
I cannot remember a more difficult time for law enforcement than today . As professional police leaders , we must be precise with our judgement and decision-making as we lead our departments through a growing effort to substantially change police agency operations and , in some cases , defund departments all together . Social unrest and the subsequent political responses are having an impact in many areas other than just operational procedures . Assaults on officers have dramatically increased this year and agencies across the nation , as well as Georgia , are experiencing greater turnover . Some of my officers indicated their family and friends are pressuring them to leave the profession .
This problem is being compounded by a significant reduction in the number of applicants who may be interested in filling these vacancies have plummeted . A recent article published by the Police Executive Research Foundation ( PERF ) indicated police agencies might very well be heading towards a “ workforce crisis ”. In some cases , applications are down more than 70 %. How do we retain the officers we already have employed ? How do we backfill these critical vacancies ?
We have never faced challenges this significant before . A resolution will require we all work together to identify and implement innovative , out of the box strategies to improve police officer recruitment and retention . For more information on the recruitment crisis can be found in the following link published by the International Association of Chiefs of Police :
Over the past several months , we all have had time to reflect on the strengths , weaknesses , opportunities and threats to our individual departments . Legislators introduced several bills at the end of 2020 legislative session demanding change in the way we do business . While none of the proposed bills were passed , I am confident new proposals will be introduced in the 2021 session . The GACP Executive Board , Legislative Committee , and staff