I DDG'ed "police shortage after covid" and these 2 articles support my belief that it's real: [1] [2]. [2] says hiring in 2023 is back up, but they're not out of the woods yet.

It feels like the breakdown of social trust got worsened by the pandemic, and it has far-reaching effects. There's probably also emboldened many who've noticed we don't live in a police state, and getting away with crime (like surging an Apple Store with your friends) is actually possible. Of course people who resort to crime aren't the smartest to begin with, e.g. they don't know that stolen Apple devices will just be software-bricked...

1) https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/us-experiencing-police-...

2) https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-officer-hiring-u...

Edit to add: and the pandemic has also emboldened racist idiots like sibling comment saying "Stop being racist /s".