Cincinnati Police Chief Decides on Department Personnel Issues at City Council Meeting

CINCINNATI (WXIX) – Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa A. Tietge, recruiting, director Ed Ramsey and HR met at City Hall Tuesday to discuss the staffing shortage in the department.

Tietge said the police department is looking into additional ways to hire cops to avoid a massive cut in cop numbers in 2029.

One of the ideas discussed was for the department to expand into the National Testing Network so they could receive applications from across the county.

Currently, the department is going to job fairs in Cincinnati and beyond, recruiting through social media, handing out business cards, apprenticeships/high school programs, etc.

The chart below shows that since 2014, the number of graduates in enrollment has been fluctuating but decreasing.

Lieutenant Ramsey says that since 2020 the number of applicants has not recovered.

The chart below shows the gap between 2009 and 2013 as the department had no recruiting sessions due to funding, Tetj said.

The police department wants to start hiring more people now to avoid a projected massive reduction in the number of officers in 2029.

The police made this projection using the current age and years of service of the officers they hire to estimate the total number of officers for each year through 2029.

The forecast for the total number of officers shows that if the police department does not make any changes regarding the hiring of the same number of people, there will be a significant reduction in the number of officers between 2028 and 2029.

Teegte says that with a class size of 60, there will be a sharp decline between these years.

• January 2024 + 60
• January 2025 + 60
• September 2025 + 60
• May 2026 + 60
• January 2027 + 60
• September 2027 + 60
• July 2028 + 60
• May 2029 + 60

For their scenario to work, they will have to mitigate the 2029 problem by “increasing the amount budgeted in previous years to account for the fall,” Tetge said.

The boss says they don’t want to lower the standards for qualified candidates.

Applicants currently have to go through a lengthy process to graduate, and the police department wants to shorten that process.

“Current recruitment process times are 7-9 months on average. It is critical that these timelines are reduced through the implementation of strategic hiring strategies to meet the needs of more frequent academy classes,” Teegte said.

The model above is a forecast of the number of officers in the department until 2029, which includes officers in DROP (Delayed Retirement Plan) and an additional 16 officers to be fired annually due to non-retirement terminations.

“This forecast assumes that all officers who are at least 48 years old and have 25 years of service are in the 1st year of DROP (Deferred Retirement Plan), if 48 and over and 26 years of service, then the 2nd DROP year and so on,” Tetge said.

“Using the number of officers in each DROP year for each year, we assumed that 50% would retire in year six, 50% in year seven, and 100% in year eight,” Tietge said.

In addition to recruiting, the department understands that officers are working overtime due to personnel issues. Tatge says the department is considering several options to address the issue.

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