NEW YORK — New data released by the FBI suggest that large police departments across the United States have begun growing again after years of declines that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis by Jeff-alytics.
As noted in the analysis, when COVID-19 occurred, large police departments began to shrink.
Smaller departments, however, have been seen to grow, according to the article. This can be due to the fact that when officers left large police departments, they often continued to work in policing in smaller departments or county law enforcement agencies, the article notes.
According to an article from The Chronicle, a series of resignations may have occurred because of controversy related to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Regulations during a period when places such as hospitals and schools were making vaccinations mandatory for employees may have been a factor in some people leaving their jobs. It also led to some firings.
Another reason for the decline comes from the academic journal Journal of Criminal Justice, which published a research article in 2023 focusing on turnover in large policing agencies.
The article highlighted that increased resignations and retirements occurred during the two years following the protests over the death of George Floyd. This would be another reason for the decreases beyond those related to the pandemic.
When analyzing 15 large police departments from 2019 to 2025, only four cities reported more officers in 2025 than they did in 2019. These cities are San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Detroit.
It is notable that three of the four cities that increased their number of officers are in Texas.
The article noted, “Large agencies aren’t shrinking anymore, but they’re generally much smaller now than they were in 2019 while smaller agencies have generally grown.”
The article continues with charts showing the slow increase of large police departments, even though they are not as large as they once were.
A graph from the article shows that in 2025, four of the five police departments that “lost more than a quarter of their officers between 2019 and 2024” are now increasing in size.
These cities are Minneapolis, Cleveland, Winston-Salem and Seattle.
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, had the largest increase at 15.3%.
The article mentions the PERF survey, which stands for the Police Executive Research Forum.
The survey includes fewer than 200 agencies nationwide and collects staffing data as of Jan. 1 each year.
The article also notes that the FBI released its data around the same time the PERF survey results became available.
The data and evidence provided by the FBI were released clearly and quickly, helping Americans better understand how police departments are performing across the nation.
The final data discussed in the article concern resignations within police departments.
Resignations decreased significantly from 5,460 in 2022 to 4,012 in 2025.
The article also notes that retirements declined during the same period, falling from 6,230 to 5,552.
The article concludes that although these agencies and departments have begun to grow again, police hiring remains a challenge.
The data and charts provided to the public “suggests they might see slow and steady growth over the next few years,” and that staffing levels may eventually return to pre-pandemic numbers.
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