The Birmingham Police Department recommends new recruitment and retention plan

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Mayor Randall L. Woodfin and the Birmingham Police Department presented a recommendation to expand officer recruitment and retention at today's city council meeting. The goal of this effort is to strengthen the police force through an aggressive, $16 million investment in the city's officers.

"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." said Mayor Randall L. Woodfin. "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 proposed plan includes:

• Increasing the recruitment bonus to $10,000
• Establish a quarterly retention bonus of $2,500 for officers with two or more years at BPD
• Establish a take home vehicle program with 75 vehicles
• Create a part-time reserve officer program which would ease staffing demands during large events
• Invest in recruitment marketing and officer recruitment consulting
• Establish a police trainee program which allows BPD to hire immediately and begin academy preparation for recruits
• Offer $5,000 in relocation assistance for new officers living more than 80 miles away from Birmingham
• Provide a $1,000 referral incentive for officers with BPD
• Create a mental health observance leave policy offering 8 hours per month

Currently, BPD recruits receive a $5,000 bonus. BPD consistently emphasizes benefits that apply exclusively to BPD officers such as the opportunity to earn full pay while attending the Birmingham Police Academy. Police recruits also are able to go home each day after work. In the last two years, pay for BPD officers has increased by 15% with a starting salary for an officer at about $51,000. BPD has an established rehire program, premium pay for officers with multilingual skills and specialized training. The city council approved the purchase of 25 vehicles earlier this month which will be designated for the vehicle take home program.

Click here to see what efforts BPD currently has in place.