The Birmingham Police Department will prioritize the hiring of 172 patrol officers. (Carol Robinson, AL.com)
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The Birmingham Times
Mayor Randall Woodfin said Thursday the Birmingham Police Department (BPD) will prioritize the hiring of 172 patrol officers to achieve staffing targets in the Birmingham police precincts. That number is part of a recruitment and retention plan the mayor has outlined to address the staffing shortages in BPD, he said.
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“The ideal number of patrol officers needed to police all 99 neighborhoods across the city is 440. We are focused on hiring 172 patrol officers,” the mayor said. “This proposed plan is a supercharged effort to enhance our police patrol. BPD is hiring, and we are looking for good men and good women.”
The recommendation would increase the signing bonus for new officers to $10,000 and establish a quarterly retention bonus of $2,500 for officers who have been in the department for two or more years.
The city issued the following numbers to “provide an accurate number to the public” it said: the current total vacancies for all sworn personnel in BPD are 223. That includes 172 patrol officers, and 34 officers assigned to administration, operations and investigative bureaus. There are 17 additional vacancies made up of sergeants, lieutenants and captains.
“As stated, the recommended recruitment and retention plan prioritizes patrol officers to strengthen police coverage in Birmingham neighborhoods,” the mayor said.
On Tuesday, Woodfin proposed a $15.8 million plan for recruiting and retaining officers for the Birmingham Police Department, a step he told the City Council was “necessary” in light of the growing number of homicides in the city, including a recent mass shooting in Five Points South that left four dead and 17 others wounded.
Many have questioned whether a lack of staffing in BPD is contributing to the higher number of murders which threatened to set records in the city. Birmingham City Council President Darryl O’Quinn has previously said the city is down nearly 300 officers. In August, wbhm.org reported that the Birmingham police department has 250 fewer officers than what its budget calls for. As recently as June, the department was down 320 officers and by some estimates, that’s about half of a fully staffed BPD, the site reported.
Woodfin said Tuesday “a lot of numbers out there that are just false.”
While the recommendations presented this week to the city council would enhance recruiting and officer retention, the department has taken multiple steps in recent years, the city said. For example, officer pay has increased by 15 percent over the last two years with the starting salary near $51,000. A $5,000 signing bonus was initiated for recruits in 2023. Officers also have a $1,200 uniform allowance, premium pay for multilingual skills, specialized training, and 12 weeks of parental leave, according to the city.
