ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The Albuquerque Police Department expects to have nearly 1,000 names on its roster in the next few months after adding 116 officers over the past year.
About two-thirds of the new officers are already on duty, and the rest are expected to be on the streets by the end of the summer, the Albuquerque Journal reported Monday.
The department expects to soon have 981 officers, with 28 scheduled to complete training this summer, police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said in a statement.
City officials have worked to boost staffing after the department’s roster dropped to 821 officers in 2016. It had 983 officers in 2013.
The department’s budget supports 1,053 officers for the next fiscal year.
The city has focused recruitment efforts to attract officers from other agencies in the state, Albuquerque Deputy Police Chief Harold Medina said. Most of the new officers have been hired from other agencies, including the Santa Fe Police Department, the Rio Rancho Police Department and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.
“We’re paying more than anyone else in the state, in some cases substantially,” Medina said. “And it’s really led to individuals wanting to come over to the department.”
Pay raises might have also persuaded officers headed toward retirement to stay longer to increase benefits through the Public Employees Retirement Association, Medina said.
“We looked at where we are losing the most when we lose people, and now instead of individuals leaving the department there is a lot of incentive for them to stay,” he said. “So it was planned in a lot of different ways, to recruit laterals and then to get people to stay in.”
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Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com
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