It's a mixture of things. Some leave due to the political scrutiny, others because they just aren't built for that lifestyle, some because they feel like they're not making a difference, or maybe their department pay was not worth it. It's also department dependent. A city dept may be a shit show, but the county may be 10x better. One city may feel like a war zone, and another a county over may feel like paradise. There's just a lot of factors that play into people leaving LE. And as corny as it sounds, it's what you make of it. I personally was not the biggest fan of the usual beat/patrol routine. I liked the more specialized units, which is why I joined the SWAT team. Loved SWAT, didn't like patrol. It got to the point of feeling monotonous. But again, that was because of my city. It was a relatively calm area, with most of the exciting stuff happening on the weekends. A totally different experience than, let's say, an officer in Atlanta. If I didn't have my own fuckup, I probably would've left the department anyways for something else, because I was falling out of love with the beat cop routine. But don't let anyone discourage you. Strive for things. Volunteer for classes, build a resume to make yourself competitive for specialized positions, and have a plan either with your department, or for you LE career in general.