The Baltimore County Police Department is part of a growing list of entities looking to hire new employees.The department can place part of the blame on more officers retiring. The police union said the lack of sworn officers is putting residents at risk."Our people are, frankly, they're exhausted and kind of worn out," said David Rose, president of the Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police.Rose expressed concerns Thursday to 11 News about low staffing levels within the department and how so many people have left. He said so many positions are vacant that the department is being stretched too thin, officers are overworked and it's putting residents at risk."We're covering the calls for service, but what it takes away is the discretional activities that officers can do for preventative enforcement, community interaction and there becomes less of that. So you're not really preventing crime, you're chasing crime," Rose said.According to Baltimore County police officials, the department is currently short 118 sworn officers and attrition is on the rise. Last year, a total of 80 sworn officers left the force by retirement or resignation. This year, with four months still to go, 138 sworn officers have left.Speaking Thursday morning with 11 News, Baltimore County Police Chief Melissa Hyatt addressed the issue of leading a shrinking police department."We know that police departments across the United States are sharing the same challenges with recruiting for law enforcement right now," Hyatt said.But she focused on efforts to loosen the pandemic's squeeze on the hiring market."We just offered a hiring incentive -- a $10,000 hiring incentive -- for new police officers and for lateral police officers," Hyatt said. "We're competing with other police departments in the area to hire qualified individuals to come join our team."The union said it's not enough to attract and retain top talent."It's just taxing on you. One day is not bad, but then you start putting two and three involved and it becomes exhausting," Rose said.