>>650064Not sure of the details, but my initial assumptions would be Covid-19 and unofficial walkouts.
You see, police (and dispatch and other personnel) are trained to follow various operating procedures, which set forth how to respond to calls, when it's okay to use varying levels of force, etc. IF this situation, THEN do that. These procedures are meant to be both restrictions on police and protections for them; if they follow procedures then they're in the clear, if not then they get thrown under the bus. If something bad happens but the procedures were followed, then rather than the officers being jailed, it is the person that came up with that procedure who is held legally responsible (though there's a statue of limitations on that, 3 years in SC).
The police chief ignored all that with the aftermath of Rayshard Brook's death. Instead he basically threw the two officers related to the Rayshard Brooks death under the bus without a proper investigation. That led to a bunch of police personnel calling out 'sick' in protest, as such immediate action meant that operating procedures would provide no protection going forward.
On top of this, Covid. Dispatchers are often all together in one command room, albeit each at their own desk / station. If one dispatcher tests positive for Covid, then (depending on precinct policies, but I think most are following similar playbooks) everyone in the room during the same shifts or who used the same station on following shifts also has to get tested, and depending on precinct operating procedures, may need to quarantine while waiting for their results, which can take one to seven days. This means that it is very possible for a given shift to be manned by a skeleton crew of other personnel (i.e. beat cops) who got cross trained on dispatch a couple of years ago and are now floundering through the assignment as best they can.
It is a really crappy time to work for the police these days.
