PHILADELPHIA â Amid growing calls for police reform and national debate over the deadly use of force, police departments are struggling to retain and attract officers, law enforcement officials say.
Across the nation, police officials and union leaders described the state of recruiting as in âcrisisâ mode.
âItâs the perfect storm. We are anticipating that the department is going to be understaffed by several hundred members, because hundreds of guys are either retiring or taking other jobs and leaving the department,â said Mike Neilon, spokesperson for the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #5, the union that represents city police officers.
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But Wright s legal team said Vega was jointly responsible for the case.
Wright, who was accused of rape and murder, was acquitted after serving 25 years in prison.
A former prosecutor campaigning to be Philadelphia s next district attorney has downplayed his role in a murder case against a man who was exonerated by DNA evidence after spending some 25 years in prison.
But according to that man s legal team, Democrat Carlos Vega who is seeking to unseat the liberal incumbent played a far bigger role than he now claims.
In an interview this week with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Vega described the allegation that he played a key role in the case of Anthony Wright as a bald-faced lie.