The Phoenix Police Department is continuing its recruitment efforts as it works to fill more than 500 positions. In the meantime, it continues to be an all-hands-on-deck effort until those positions are filled.
Sgt. Jonathan Howard said the department is starting to turn a corner and see some improvement when it comes to their numbers. There are exactly 3,269 sworn positions— 2,700 of those are filled.
Still, more work needs to be done. Earlier this year, the Phoenix Police Department began filling gaps by assigning detectives and specialty units to patrol positions.
"Some of them do one day a month and some do one week a month," Howard said. "But we’re extending that program out to cover some of our weekend and nighttime shifts that are taking the hardest hits from our staffing."
Howard said there are 121 recruits currently in the police academy. He said law enforcement in today’s environment is challenging and calls it an “intellectual job.” He said the recruits with the most success are those who have some college education.
