By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin on Tuesday 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.” Ideally, the city would have 851 sworn officers, 440 of whom would be available to work patrol, the mayor said. Currently, there are 377 officers available to patrol, Woodfin said. “We’re only short 63 patrol officers.”
Nevertheless, in order for the city to be the best version of itself “we need Birmingham police officers, not just new recruits,” he told the council.
His nearly $16 million plan – with funding from the city’s general reserve fund, which had $290 million as of June 23, 2023 – would increase the city’s hiring bonus from $5,000 to $10,000 for new officers and offer bonuses of $5,000 to help officers relocate to a residence in Birmingham.
(Woodin said the $16 million would not be recurring).
To attract and retain more officers, he proposed spending $4.5 million for a take-home vehicle program, with money going to purchase 75 patrol cars; 50 to initiate the program and 25 to sustain the current fleet.
He proposed increased signing bonuses for new recruits to $10,000, up from the currently $5,000. He also proposed a retention bonus of $10,000 a year to keep officers in the department.
The proposal includes $600,000 for media marketing and a recruitment campaign and spending $200,000 on recruiting consultants.
It calls for a new policy of eight hours a month of mental health observance leave, which would be taken like an extra day of vacation.
The proposal includes nearly $1.2 million for a part-time reserve officer program, and $561,600 for a police trainee program that allows for immediately hiring future police officers to begin academy preparation.
The plan calls for spending $100,000 to pay 20 out-of-state candidates per year relocation assistance to help them move to Birmingham. It includes a $1,000 referral incentive for referring future police officers.
The price tag might have some sticker shock, he told the council “but y’all asked me to do something.”
Addressing the issue is going to take a unified front, said Councilor LaTonya Tate, chair of the public safety committee. “I’m not in the business of pointing fingers about how we got here, but I know that Birmingham is a resilient and beautiful city,” she said. “We’re committed to giving our law enforcement officials the tools they need to succeed here and help Birmingham reach its full potential.”
It was unclear whether the plan would be presented to the full Council at next week’s Oct. 8 meeting.
