They’ve been vilified for simply doing their jobs. Now America’s Finest are risking everything for a better life… and its transforming the country

Fed up with being vilified, undermined and used as political punching bags, some police officers are leaving blue states for Republican-led parts of the country – even if it means worse pay and benefits.

From New York to California, cops are reportedly handing in their badges and moving to states like Florida, Texas and South Carolina, where experts say they feel appreciated, respected and empowered to do their jobs.

While there’s no official database on police migration, and experts say other factors are also at play, anecdotal evidence suggests a quiet but powerful revolt among rank-and-file law enforcement fleeing what they see as anti-cop culture in liberal cities.

The perceived shift began during the nationwide George Floyd protests of 2020, ‘defund the police’ policies touted by Democratic politicians and what many officers saw as negative coverage of their work in the media.

By contrast, Republican-run states rolled out the red carpet, including Florida, which implemented bonuses for new recruits. 

Still, police officers who wave goodbye to Democrat-run administrations aren’t getting everything they might be hoping for.

Officers in red states largely receive worse pay and benefits than their counterparts in blue states – a difference that isn’t always offset by lower living costs.

‘There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence showing officers quitting blue states for red states after the George Floyd protests, but no hard data to back it up,’ former California police chief Bob Harrison told the Daily Mail.

Police officers are said to be moving to Houston, a Democrat-run city in a red state, where some cops say they get more respect

Officers in LA say they’re undervalued by the public, the city’s Democratic leaders and even their own top brass 

Harrison, now a senior researcher at the think tank RAND Corporation, said police forces in Minnesota, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and other liberal bastions are still languishing with staffing below 2019 levels.

‘Like everyone else, police officers move for a range of reasons,’ he said.

‘Whether they get respect at work is one of them, but so is pay, pensions, benefits, the cost of living and healthcare. What we see from the growth of forces in Florida and Texas is that politics plays into it.’

The issue has been spotlighted by Zohran Mamdani, a formerly ‘defund the police’ socialist who won the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City, and raised fears among some cops of soft-on-crime policies ahead.

Joe Gamaldi, national vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and a lieutenant with the Houston Police Department, says Mamdani and other leftist politicians scare cops away from their jobs.

‘What we’ve seen is really a mass exodus of police officers leaving far-left cities for basically greener pastures,’ Gamaldi claimed on Fox News.

‘Because, ultimately, people want to feel appreciated for what they do, and when you have a boss – in this case, mayors or city councils – who regularly call you a piece of cr*p to the public, why would anyone stay?’

Florida is an example of a Republican-led state claiming to have benefited from the mass departures.

In April 2022, Gov Ron DeSantis launched the Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Program with $5,000 payouts for new recruits.

‘Come to a state where you’re respected,’ the Republican said at a recruitment event at the time. ‘Where your uniform is a badge of honor, not a target.’

According to a 2024 statement from former Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, the state welcomed 5,000 law enforcement recruits between 2022 and 2023. They included more than 1,200 from out of state, and a combined 400 from California, Illinois and New York.

The Daily Mail was unable to obtain recruit numbers from prior years for comparison. 

‘Florida is the most pro-law enforcement state in the nation because we back our blue,’ Moody said at the time.

‘Defund the police’ fears have been revived by democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy for New York City mayor

Anger toward police has lingered even after some cities felt a crime wave as officers came off the street  

New recruits ‘have answered the call, leaving behind places where their service was not as appreciated as it is here,’ she added.

Gamaldi says officers get more than respect when they leave blue states, and points to the payoff from Florida or such Texas cities as Houston and Dallas, which he says have upped cops’ wages.

Still, the World Population Review shows that officers are much better off in blue states, with average annual salaries of more than $100,000 in California, Washington and Illinois, compared to $45,600 in the worst-paid state, Mississippi.

In May, personal finance website WalletHub.com reported that California, Connecticut and Illinois were the best states to be a cop, overall. Nevada, Hawaii and Alaska were at the bottom of the ranking.

WalletHub said it compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia across 30 indicators of police friendliness. The data included median income, police deaths per 1,000 officers and state and local police protection expenses per capita.

‘The best states for police officers offer competitive compensation, supplemented by solid training that helps minimize the chances of deadly violence between officers and civilians,’ WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said.

Recruitment boards, social media groups and private messaging channels for police show lively discussions about relocating, with officers swapping tips on red-state agencies that are hiring, housing prices, school systems and the political climate.

LA police were caught in the crosshairs between angry protestors and President Donald Trump’s immigration raids in June

Cops started quitting during the nationwide George Floyd protests of 2020 and ‘defund the police’ policies touted by Democratic politicians

A common analysis is that officers are sick of liberal-leaning cities, where Democratic politicians and senior officers don’t have their backs, and liberal prosecutors put lawbreakers back out on the street to offend again.

At the same time, they complain about Republican-led legislatures in red states trimming their wages and pensions to cut costs.

Some warn the trend could leave Democrat-run cities with hollowed-out departments, longer response times and an even deeper disconnect between police and the communities they serve.

As America continues to divide along political lines, the thin blue line appears to be moving, too – from blue states to red ones and progressive cities to conservative heartlands.