(The Center Square) – Virginia ranked slightly above average in a report that looked into the best and worst states to be a police officer, conducted by the financial website WalletHub.
Out of a possible score of 100, the commonwealth scored a little less than 43 points, which positioned itself 23rd when compared to the other 49 states and the District of Columbia. It finished right in the middle of its neighbors, with three ranking higher than Virginia and three ranking lower than Virginia.
The commonwealth’s best category was job hazards and protections, in which it finished 11. It ranked slightly above average in opportunity and competition at 24 and it ranked slightly below average in law enforcement training requirements at 28.
“Virginia ranks in the middle of the pack for police officers,” WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez told The Center Square. “Its strong points are the low crime rate, the fact that it requires officers to be trained to respond to mental health, substance use and behavioral disorder issues and the police body-worn camera legislation.”
Most of the data compiled to determine the rankings came from 2021. During a 2020 special session, when the state had a Democratic governor and the Senate and House of Delegates had Democratic majorities, the General Assembly passed a series of criminal justice and policing reform bills, most of which garnered support from criminal justice groups and opposition from policing groups.
Some of the reforms included a ban on no-knock warrants, heavier restrictions on chokeholds and restrictions on police departments purchasing military surplus weapons. Lawmakers also passed laws to give more authority to civilian review boards and enact uniform training standards for police, which included mental health and racial sensitivity training. Police groups supported some of the training reform legislation.
Lawmakers also increased police officer pay in 2020 for its biennial budget. This year, the General Assembly is still debating the biennial budget, but lawmakers from both sides of the aisle voiced support for increasing police officer pay.
Criminal justice reform and policing was a major topic during the 2021 gubernatorial and House of Delegates elections. During the election, Democrats ran on their support for criminal justice reform and Republicans ran on a platform of supporting police and scaling back some of the criminal justice reforms. Republicans fared well in the election by flipping the governor’s seat and retaking control of the House.
“Other areas where Virginia ranks high,” Gonzalez said, “include the existence of laws on the use of lethal force by law enforcement officers, the presence of ‘Red Flag’ laws that allow the seizure of guns before people can commit acts of violence, and the presence of ‘Blue Alerts’ that provide the means to speed the apprehension of violent criminals who kill or seriously injure local, state or federal law enforcement officers.”
The efficacy of red flag laws came under serious debate when Democratic lawmakers voted to pass the law in 2020. The law allows police to seize firearms from a person that a judge deems to be a threat to himself or others, even if that person has not been convicted of a crime, charged with a crime or is even accused or suspected of a crime.
Connecticut, California and Illinois ranked as the three best states to be a police officer and Arkansas, Hawaii and Alaska ranked as the worst three states.
Tyler Arnold reports on Virginia and West Virginia for The Center Square. He previously worked for the Cause of Action Institute and has been published in Business Insider, USA TODAY College, National Review Online and the Washington Free Beacon.
