Background: Police departments and the communities they serve have a vested interest in maintaining a qualified and stable police force (Lynch & Tuckey, 2008). Across the U.S., approximately 10.8% of officers turnover annually, but research shows that agencies in rural southern states have the highest levels (Wareham et al., 2015). With recent negative events creating additional challenges, many departments are struggling to find and retain talented officers.

Aim: To examine turnover intentions in a rural southern department to identify potential causes and offer suggestions for addressing this crisis.

Method: A flexible qualitative design was used, involving 20 interviews with officers from a police department in Florence, Alabama, as well as a descriptive questionnaire and the collection of police department demographics. The results were presented and discussed at a town hall event, where additional feedback was provided by participants. The reliability of the data was strengthened by triangulating multiple sources of data to identify themes and codes that occurred across multiple sources.

Results: The study found that perceived organizational support (POS) was one of the most significant themes identified in the results. Participants with low turnover intentions mentioned extrinsic perceptions of support through factors such as pay, uniforms, equipment, access to workout equipment, and training. However, the most significant satisfaction with extrinsic support was presented by participants who also referenced feelings of hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism, supporting the theory that psychological capital mediates the relationship between turnover intentions and perceived organizational support.

Conclusion: The conclusion of this study is that understanding the relationship between perceived organizational support and turnover is crucial for addressing the crisis of high turnover in rural southern police departments. However, many departments may not have the resources to provide pay increases, additional uniforms, improved equipment, or advanced training. This study suggests that by increasing officers' psychological capital, perceived organizational support can potentially increase, providing a more cost-effective solution to retaining a qualified and stable police force.