Council President Scott: BPD Recruitment Effort Showing 'Optimistic Signs'
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A digital recruitment campaign the Baltimore Police Department launched in July to address its significant shortage of officers is showing some positive early signs, city council president Brandon Scott said Thursday.
The council's labor committee met Thursday afternoon. During that meeting, Scott said the early data presented showed some "optimistic signs" but added there's a lot more work to do.
"We still have significant recruitment and retention challenges we must work together to solve," he said.
Early data from BPD's new recruitment campaign shows some optimistic signs. However, we still have significant recruitment and retention challenges we must work together to solve. Moreover, I'm pleased that the first phase of BPD's civilianization is underway.
— Brandon M. Scott (@MayorBMScott) October 17, 2019
The department hopes the recruitment effort will not only bring more officers to the force but also attract more diverse applicants and people from within the city.
Baltimore's police union has criticized the department and commissioner Michael Harrison for not doing enough to fill a shortage of nearly 500 officers.