Elevated Police Turnover Following the Summer of George Floyd Protests: A Synthetic Control Study

Abstract

The police murder of George Floyd and ensuing social unrest has raised concerns about a mass exodus of officers from policing. We use the synthetic control method to examine police workforce trends in a large U.S. municipal police department following the summer of 2020. Our findings indicate that officer resignations significantly increased in the months following the Floyd protests, while retirements were not significantly affected.