Minneapolis public safety officials announce a multi-year, recruitment campaign for 911 dispatchers and police officers.
Mayor Jacob Frey joined Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara and others to unveil the "Imagine yourself" campaign.
O'Hara says this is a huge step forward in restructuring the image of police in Minneapolis.
"My goal as the Chief of Police is to continue to rebuild this department, restore pride in this patch, and make the connections between our cops and our residents so strong that every parent out there will be overjoyed to hear their kid is going to become a Minneapolis cop as well," O'Hara explains.
The marketing campaign is just one piece of the overall recruitment plan. The City says it will also continue to work out the impending contract with the Police Federation in order to offer incoming officers better incentives.
The unveiling of a new recruitment campaign comes amid staffing shortages in critical public safety departments. It's aimed at people ages 18-44 living in Minnesota who have an interest in working public safety.
Frey says he believes the first responders already working in Minneapolis will be vital to this recruitment effort.
"They've showed what it means to be courageous and heroic," says Frey. "They've faced some of the most difficult circumstances that our city and our country have ever faced. They're still here. What I can tell you that you're signing up to if you're someone that's looking at a potential job as a police officer or a 911 dispatcher in Minneapolis, is you've got a committed team around you."
Chief O’Hara says they will also continue to work on bolstering their boots-on-the-ground recruitment efforts at career fairs and colleges across the state. They've gone to some historically Black colleges and universities to try and recruit future officers and have ramped up recruitment of females as well.
"We need some help and we need some support to build this department back up," O'Hara told WCCO's Adam and Jordana this past Tuesday.
Current numbers show the city is well below the minimum number of officers required. The Minneapolis Police Department currently has approximately 560 officers according to the city. That’s down significantly from 2019 numbers which were around 800. The City of Minneapolis Charter requires 731 officers.
Compared to other major cities, O'Hara says Minneapolis has had some unique challenges in hiring officers following the killing of George Floyd and the ensuing riots, especially the burning of the 3rd Police Precinct. He does add he thinks that 2024 is the year they can change that and get more officers hired despite the challenges they face.
"I can tell you this much, I am confident this year will be different he says. "I think we are already on pace to surpass the number of people that we hired last year. That doesn't mean that we may not have a net loss. We hired 40 people last year. We're definitely going to hire more than that this year. But we have 144 people eligible to retire. It takes more than what we can do on our own to fix that problem."
O'Hara adds that they need to settle their union contract with higher pay and increase financial incentives and get a higher level of support for police in order to make more progress.