Voluntary Separation of Police Officers from the City of San Jose, California Police Department: A Qualitative Case Study of a Demoralized Police Departmen

This qualitative case study allowed for an investigation of the problem of voluntary preretirement turnover of San Jose, California police officers. The case study was completed using an embedded design, which allowed for analyzing a variety of contextual factors. Former San Jose police officers who voluntarily quit the Department prior to reaching maximum retirement benefit and current San Jose police officers were interviewed to gather data. Analysis of the interviews resulted in the finding showing voluntary turnover was positively impacted by perceptions of psychological contract violation. Further research is needed to assess how employees who have not vested in their public employee retirement system or private enterprise stock shares are affected by psychological contract violation.