America’s thinning blue line

The “defund the police” movement exploded across America in May 2020. Images of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for about nine minutes became the spark that lit the fuse of unrest already ­simmering due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns.

Floyd’s death touched off months of protests and riots. Police departments had already struggled with recruitment and retention shortages for several years, but the situation got significantly worse in 2020. Protesters vented their rage at police, and some cities slashed law enforcement budgets. Veteran ­officers resigned or retired in droves, and few new recruits lined up.

Most Americans have put the dark days of 2020 behind us. But police departments don’t have that luxury. WORLD reporters visited cities across America to see how they’ve fared during the past five years. Some are in better shape than ­others, but the struggle to recruit and retain officers remains universal. And soft-on-crime policies in deep-blue cities have allowed lawlessness to metastasize.

The fallout from the summer of 2020 has no easy solutions. Some localities have tried throwing money at the problems, with little to show for it. Fed-up voters have started electing new leaders who support law enforcement. But progress is slow. Here’s a look at the state of policing from four different U.S. cities.

Please read on in this four-part 360 feature by clicking the links below (or swipe left in the app):

Part 1: “Enough is enough” (San Francisco, Calif.)
Part 2: “Teen trouble” (Baltimore, Md.)
Part 3: “Reduction in force” (Summit, Miss.)
Part 4: “Privatizing protection” (Portland, Ore.)

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