Question: Can you provide recent staffing history for the Alexandria Police Department, including details on authorized, filled, vacant and over-hire positions for the past 5 years, as available? Based on the resources proposed in the City Manager’s budget, please provide details as to when the Department expects to return to authorized staffing levels in the future. (Mayor Wilson)

Response: 

The chart below shows the staffing history for the sworn positions of the Alexandria Police Department (APD) over the last six years. Each year displays the budgeted sworn staff, including permanent and overhire positions, as well as the average number of filled and available personnel.

*Sworn officers are unavailable while in training or while on restricted duty, FMLA, etc.

The department is still experiencing understaffing. The APD on a continuing basis has several sworn positions that cannot be counted for as available positions. When an officer is hired, it takes one year to become fully trained and released into solo patrol. Officers in training cannot factor into actual available sworn staffing numbers despite occupying a budgeted position. The department also consistently has several officers in an inactive status due to restricted duty including FMLA and disability leave. These officers are not physically carrying out typical sworn officer duties, reducing the number of officers available. Because of these issues, the comparison of budgeted to filled positions overstates actual operational and patrol staffing levels. A more appropriate indicator compares budgeted (permanent and overhire) positions to available staff, as shown above.

There are currently 20 recruit officers that are attending the Academy and will graduate in June.  As the department continues to recruit officers, it continues to lose sworn staff monthly through retirements, resignations, and terminations. After accounting for retirements, resignations, and employee terminations, the current sworn staff has been reduced to 297. APD will continue to actively recruit new officers in order to send even more to the next academy session beginning in July. Several challenges remain such as: regional competition for the same applicant pool, the need for competitive salaries to attract and retain talented officers, and the overwhelming shift in the national attitude towards law enforcement in general.

The department is committed to the City’s official policy and position to remain a fully staffed and capable premier service law enforcement agency for its residents, business community, and visitors.

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