Law enforcement faces recruitment difficulties as retirements soar and anti-police sentiment rises in the wake of mass protests and calls to defund the police, the Associated Press reported. Since the death of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, crime has surged in America’s major cities amid Black Lives Matter protests and calls for racial reckoning in policing, the Associated Press reported. “Fewer people are entering the profession, while more are leaving through retirements and resignations,” wrote Chuck Wexler the executive director for the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). “Police agencies are stretched thin, and violent crime is on the rise.” PERF research on almost 200 law enforcement agencies reported hiring slowed by 5 percent while retirements at some departments rose 45 percent compared to the previous year, the Associated Press reported. “It’s hard to recruit the very people who see police as an opposition,” said Lynda R. …