Date of Conferral

4-30-2026

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Benita Stiles-Smith

Abstract

Beginning in May 2020, a national exodus of law enforcement officers (LEOs) from the profession occurred. There has been speculation about the causes, including social unrest and trauma, while some claim that there has always been this level of attrition. The purpose of this study was to capture the narratives of LEOs regarding what motivated them to leave the profession after May 2020 and before achieving their retirement goals. The theoretical lens of general strain theory guided this study, as it posits that people under great strain resort to options that they would not usually consider, such as leaving the profession of law enforcement before they anticipated doing so. Twenty participants were interviewed about their motivation for leaving the profession. They were asked about their experience of mental health before, during, and after social unrest, and their experience after leaving the profession, using an interview questionnaire. The first round of coding revealed multiple topics using line-by-line coding using NVivo software on the transcripts from the 30- to 50-minute interviews. Axial coding revealed themes that led to four primary reasons motivating LEOs to leave the profession early: lack of support from their state, county, and local government officials, lack of support from their agency administrations, the way media, government officials, and their administrations spoke pejoratively about them, and the loss of community support during social unrest. The data suggest that by addressing these issues through thoughtful mitigation, mental health professionals can inform the law enforcement profession and impact the loss of law enforcement officers, in turn decreasing cost to the community and increasing safety for communities in which there is a healthy law enforcement presence.

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