Calling all cops: the metro area is aggressively hiring for police jobs in Atlanta.

City Hall wanted 2,000 police by the year 2,000, but that figure never became a realization, even though independent studies backed up that figure and even increased it by 500, saying the city needed about 2,500 to operate and fight crime efficiently. Now the city is stepping up their recruiting game to get 2000 by the end of 2012.

And the Atlanta PD is launching an aggressive recruitment campaign aiming at Georgia’s finest.

APD currently has 1,737 sworn officers. At APD, more than 70 officers have left so far this year. These include officers who retired, accepted new jobs at other agencies or were firedNext year they have budgeted for 1,859 officers. If this goal is realized, they’ll have the most officers on staff out of any point in history.

APD says they’ve already been hiring in droves. About 165 new officers are suited and badged, and they expect to hire about 145 more before the year is over.

Shortages of police officers in the past have led to increased response time to 911 calls an a higher crime rate. Last year, furloughs and other cutbacks reduced morale in the PD, but there’s no sign of budget cuts this year.

Attrition is a problem that has hit the APD. For example, other areas in Atlanta are competing for the experienced cops the APD has and are offering great benefit packages and better work shifts to entice officers.

Recently Atlanta’s City Council voted to raise the officers’ salary by 3.5%, which helps with attrition. In addition, they developed a comprehensive landing page for people looking to get hired at APD, which screens out unqualified candidates and gets the ball rolling for those who meet the criteria.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 7:35 pm and is filed under Law Enforcement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.