Unless Cincinnati police start completing recruit classes every nine months, the staffing levels for the department could drop drastically in six years, officials said.
Police Chief Theresa Theetge, Sgt. Dwayne Wilson and human resources director Ed Ramsey gave an update to Cincinnati's public safety and governance committee Tuesday.
Theetge has been working to address staffing shortages and recruitment troubles since last year.
In September, Cincinnati's police union president called the situation a "crisis" at a time when the department was more than 100 officers short of its authorized level of 1,059.
Ramsey said if the situation was left unchecked in 2029, staffing would fall to a projected 894 officers, nearly 200 officers short of a full staff.
But Theetge and members of the council refused to call it a crisis. They both said the "c-word" can and will be avoided.
To do that, Ramsey said this would require eight recruit classes of 60 students between now and the middle of 2029.
Theetge said recruiting remains a continuing challenge. However, more people applied for the upcoming recruit class this summer than last year. Last year's recruit class has 760 applicants, while 822 applied for this year's class.
Ramsey said these numbers are still far below those from before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Committee chair and council member Scotty Johnson, a former police officer who joined the force in 1989, emphasized this point saying that when he took his test he was among 6,000 other applicants.
Wilson said the department is increasing its recruiting efforts at colleges and job fairs across the country. He said other efforts include targeting college athletes and military veterans.
There is also the option of using a new testing vendor that could make it easier for more people to apply and test to become a police officer, he said.
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