The Rookie Collapse Window: Why Most Officers Who Leave Do So in Years 2–4 — and What Departments Miss

By the time a recruit pins on a badge and steps off probation, the department has invested somewhere between $50,000 and $150,000 in their training. And then, with striking regularity, they leave. Not in year one. Not in year ten. In years two through four — after the investment has been made, after the training wheels have come off, and before the officer has reached the experience level where their institutional value compounds.