Mpls. Police Seek To Attract New Officers Amid Shortage

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The Minneapolis Police Department is doubling its efforts to attract new recruits.

Currently, the department is operating with a smaller number of officers than usual, mostly due to a large number of officers retiring.

"The Minneapolis Police Department is an aging police department," said Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo. "In this profession, you can be 40 and have almost 20 years on."

Chief Arradondo says the department is losing three employees a month to retirement. In fact, so far in 2018, 32 officers decided it was time to called it quits.

The City of Minneapolis has authorized MPD to have 880 sworn officers, but right now, they only have 856.

That leaves them 24 officers short, forcing the department to offer up overtime to keep all shifts covered.

"A benefit of having a large department is that we do have a lot of resources that are fluid and if we need help at a certain location in the city we have the ability to address each situation as it comes along," said Sgt. Darcy Horn.

A new recruiting video highlights MPD's need for community service officers, cadets, explorers and recruits.

Chief Arradondo says women and minorities are in high demand.

He believes a thriving economy and low unemployment is making it challenging to find the best of the best for careers in policing.

"We've had candidates who were looking to get into the policing profession," said Chief Arradondo. "Private sector has lured them away. So we are really trying to be open-minded about what strategies we use to recruit the best character of candidates to come on the Minneapolis Police Department."

Chief Arradondo hopes the recruitment video and help from community partners will help get MPD back to full strength.