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Police departments in Philadelphia are struggling to make ends meet when it comes to staffing, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thursday.
Since the beginning of the year, 79 Philadelphia police officers have been accepted into the Deferred Retirement Option program, which means that they intend to retire in the next four years, according to The Philidelphia Inquirer. During the same time period last year, 13 officers had enrolled in the program.
“It’s the perfect storm. We are anticipating that the department is going to be understaffed by several hundred members because hundreds of guys are either retiring or taking other jobs and leaving the department,” said Mike Neilon, spokesperson for the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police.