A new survey by the Albuquerque Police Officers’ Union shows that many officers are thinking about career changes and many believe Department of Justice constraints is the largest contributing factor to the growing crime rate in Albuquerque, according to KRQE.

More than 400 officers responded to the survey, with 85% of those saying they are considering leaving the police department to seek career changes.

A little less than half of officers that responded to the survey said they blamed constraints by the DOJ as the main contributing factor to the City of Albuquerque's crime problem.

"I believe that the DOJ and the reform effort has instituted a capitulation on behalf of the City of Albuquerque where the police officers do not have realistic politics that allow them to do the job," President of Albuquerque Police Officers' Association (APOA) Shaun Willoughby told KRQE. 

Willoughby is saying that the department should have the right to identify and correct policies that are not working such as the use of force policy. He said that numerous officers are not available to do their jobs because they are being investigated by Internal Affairs.

"You have citizens in this community that are waiting for a police response for hours, simply because a police officer is being investigated because a bad guy said 'ow,'" Willoughby said.

So far, 137 officers have already resigned from the force this year.