The lie is right there in the first line of the story.
It wasn't the Defund The Police movement that caused the shortage, that came after the departments were cutting police funding since they couldn't fill the vacancies anyway.
The vacancies were caused by governments targeting officers for Leftist political expediency, especially starting with Ferguson Missouri a decade ago (2014). That agenda was repeated across the country where governments collaborated with Propaganda Media outlets as they threw officers under the bus when politically expedient, charging white officers and hiding black officers that were also involved. To add insult to injury, these governments then refused to charge rioters during the Democrat Riots of 2020 while charging officers at the same time.
The poster-tard for the Leftist campaign, St. George Floyd of Fentanyl, died due to drugs he took and for fighting with the arresting officers when caught trying to pass counterfeit money. The government charged and incarcerated the officers for political gain. What officer would ever put themselves at such risk for politicians who'd end their lives in such a blatant abuse of the law?
These departments are clearly desperate. I see now see video clips with the fattest, weakest cops imaginable. I can only imagine what the injury and disability costs they're bringing to these municipalities.
On a related note, for the first time ever I saw a web commercial trying to recruit police using the police motorcycle division. It was priceless how they were trying to sell motorcycle riding as a fun job with minimal focus on that it was to be a motorcycle cop. I expect you'll see Hollywood take taxpayer money via city governments to remake television shows such as CHiPs.
