CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- As some protesters ask to abolish police, we may see more officers voluntarily leaving law enforcement.

Anne Steppe, the wife of a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer, believes the protests of police brutality have turned from calls for change to personal attacks. She says the rhetoric coming from demonstrators, and some public officials including Mayor Vi Lyles, caused her to ask her husband to resign.

Her husband is staying with CMPD for the time being, but Steppe says other law enforcement families are having the same discussions.

“You can see the ramifications of how it’s affecting families and officers,” Steppe said. “With officers just walking away and saying, ‘I used to encourage people to be an officer and now I'm telling them not to.’”

CMPD says it has not seen a significant amount of retirements, transfers, or resignations over the last couple weeks.

It's reported that 41 percent of police departments say they have a shortage of officers that has worsened in recent years, according to the Police Executive Research Forum.