[FoxNews] Police chiefs expressed concern with how district attorneys and judges are prosecuting criminals at the annual MCCA/PERF conference.
Law enforcement officers from across the United States gathered this week to discuss a "perfect storm" of issues that major city departments have faced over the past two years.
A diverse group of police chiefs from major U.S. cities met at the 2022 Police Executive Research Forum (PERF)/ Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) Annual Conference in San Francisco and pointed to four main issues plaguing departments since 2020: COVID-19, summer protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, a law enforcement workforce shortage and rising violent crime, particularly in the wake of three major mass shootings in Buffalo, New York; Uvalde, Texas; and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
"I think over the two days … we went through a myriad of issues that we've all seen through COVID before," Baltimore Police Chief and PERF President Michael Harrison told Fox News Digital. "[C]oming out of COVID has affected how people look at our profession from the outside, how we as officers look at ourselves on the inside, and how we perform and deliver police services and what we're up against — the obstacles that are in front of us."
Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Chief Johnny Jenkins and Nashville Police Chief John Drake mentioned that they have diverted talent responding to property crimes toward violent crimes instead in an effort to curb fatal and nonfatal shootings.
Police chiefs from New York City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Milwaukee, Orlando and Los Angeles each expressed some concern with how their respective district attorneys or lead prosecutors, as well as their local court systems, have made significant judicial policy changes that have altered how and even whether accused criminals face justice.
NYPD Chief Kenneth Corey noted that 78% of those arrested for nonfatal shootings are currently walking the streets of New York City. 
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