There is a 13% vacancy rate for sworn Montgomery County Police officers, and it could worsen during 2025 when 30 officers are eligible to retire when the department’s enhanced retirement plan goes into effect.
The vacancy rate for patrol officers is even higher at 17.3%, according to Susan Farag, the council’s legislative analyst.
Chief Marc Yamada and other police leaders met with the council’s Public Safety Committee meeting Monday to keep abreast of the situation.
“We are in dire straits here to figure this thing out,” said Councilmember Sidney Katz, who chairs the public safety committee.
There are currently 1,112 sworn officers. The department is considered at full strength with 1,278 officers.
While 30 officers could retire, another 70 officers will be eligible at the start of 2025 to enter the Discontinued Retirement Service Plan (DRSP), a voluntary program that contributes part of an employee’s retirement benefits to an individual account before that person retires.
Partially due to the staffing shortage, overtime pay for the Montgomery County Police Department’s (MCPD) patrol section soared. According to budget allocations, $11.6 million was set aside for overtime. However, the department spent $8.2 million more than that, according to Farag.
Overtime also increases officer burnout, she added.
Response time to incidents reduced slightly this year but overall remain higher than before the pandemic.
While Yamada pointed out, “Violent crime is down in almost every category,” he said that more officers are needed. He suggested allowing civilian-licensed drone operators to be used to relieve some officers in the Drone as a First Responder program.
He also suggested rehiring retired officers.
Participants at the 90-minute meeting also talked about the need to work out how best to handle trends due to social media that result in increased calls for swatting, car meetups, bomb threats and auto thefts.
One area that suffers when staffing is limited is follow up investigations, noted Assistant Chief Darren Francke.
Police Commander Jason Cokinos of the Third District called the council’s recent law to restrict the late-night hours of some businesses a “success.” The midnight shift is more manageable now, he noted.
MCPD continues to stress recruitment efforts and has a new website for that. However, recent recruit classes average 25 participants, which is considered “too low to address historic attrition.”
A $20,000 signing bonus is awarded to recruits, keeping the department in line with other area police departments. Also, the department has been emphasizing a 30 X 30 female police officers initiative, with the goal of hiring 30 female officers by 2030.
