Brackney said board members are on radio and TV and at marches saying officers’ days are numbered and that they’re coming after them.

“The officers do not believe that there’s going to be any fair, impartial oversight,” Brackney said. “It’s well-documented of how some of them have treated our officers, including me.”

City residents’ attitude toward officers hurts recruitment, Brackney said, which makes positions remain open longer.

“We talk about that we want a diverse force, but if a person feels like they’re not going to be welcomed in that community, that they’re coming into a community where it’s actively hostile towards them, it makes it a challenge to recruit,” she said. “I think there’s this assumption that these kinds of things are going to be heaped on our officers and that they’re never going to say anything. They have family, they have friends and things of that nature.”

Brackney said the department has banded together to cover duties with the vacancies. Sometimes, detectives are required to complete patrol work just to ensure the city has proper coverage.

“We’re all in this together to ease that burden or until the climate improves,” Brackney said. “I’m hoping with the more distance between now and August 2017, that we’re successful or at least we don’t have the type of harm that was done in 2017, that there’s an ability to move forward.”

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