About 50 people started a 10-month training program to join the Cincinnati Police Department Monday. They'll spend the first seven months at the Police Academy, then another three months of field training after graduation in February. Chief Eliot Isaac says this class is crucial to keep up with attrition; a record 66 officers retired last year.
"I expressed to [the class], in my 33 years of policing this is the most challenging time that I've seen, in the past 18 months," Isaac said. "But at the same time, I wanted to reassure them, even though there's a lot of negative narratives out there, the vast majority of our citizens support them."
Isaac says an additional class in September will include 25-30 officers from other police agencies looking to transfer here. That class will be complete in December.
"We have a team of community members that are participating in that selection process — they sat in on interviews," Isaac said. "So we very much want the community's input on the folks that we hire that are going to be serving."
Even after both classes graduate, Isaac says the department expects to be about 50 officers short of the 1,059 officers budgeted for.
Cincinnati would still have more officers per capita than most cities with a population of at least 250,000, with 3.1 officers per 1,000 residents here, compared to an average 2.6 officers per 1,000 residents nationwide. The current sworn complement of 990 active officers puts Cincinnati at 3.3 officers per 1,000 residents.
Isaac says more officers are sorely needed. With loosening of pandemic restrictions and an uptick in violent crime, Isaac recently added 26 officers to weekend patrols.
"If you look at the night we had this past Saturday, with a number of events, concerts, the Reds home games, the number of people that were out enjoying the DORA [the Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area at The Banks] — I was overwhelmed by the number of people that were out, but having that supplemental support really helped," Isaac said.
The recruit class that started Monday includes 40 men and 9 women:
- 31 white men
- 9 Black men
- 4 white women
- 5 Black women
