Wichita’s police force is about 66 officers short of its authorized strength of 468 officers, according to Police Chief Joe Sullivan. The police department faces a “retention crisis,” some analysts have said, which has complicated the department’s relationship with the community and ability to mend an internal culture criticized in a consultant’s report earlier this year. Workforce shortages put officers in the position, Sullivan said, of constantly answering emergency calls, which limits more positive interactions with the public and adversely affects the officers’ own mental health. “When you’re in a department that’s not fully staffed, and you’re responding to more emergencies than you normally would, and it’s constant one after another with no break, and you’re being asked to work overtime to fill in for those vacant positions, you’re experiencing more trauma, and you’re beginning to experience exhaustion and eventually burnout,” he said. “So that’s something that we’re keenly aware of, and we are working as quickly as we can to put together an officer wellness program.”
Source: KLC Journal
