City Council Not Fazed By High Vacancy Rate In GPD

On Thursday, October 13, at the City Council strategy meeting, Interim Police Chief Teresa Biffle made a disturbing report regarding the Greensboro Police Department vacancies.

The City Council didn’t seem fazed by high vacancy rate that, according to Biffle, is going higher, and the councilmembers offered no real solutions.

Biffle stated that 691 sworn officers were authorized for the GPD and that there are currently 108 vacancies. There are also 14 nonsworn positions.

Biffle stated that the situation was only going to worsen, as 12 officers graduated from the previous academy class in field training. There are 15 academy students.  She stated that the current academy class started with 18 officers, and they are likely to lose two more before graduation.

As former Police Chief Brian James explained to the City Council several times, the normal attrition rate for the GPD is about 60 officers a year, which means to remain  even, each of the two academy classes held during the year needs to graduate 30 officers.

Biffle stated that 27 additional officers was the maximum the GPD could hope for this year.  The math shows that unless the GPD gains a large number of lateral entry, the GPD will lose an additional 33 officers by year’s end.

Biffle explained that a patrol section had around 100 officers. So, one way of looking at the current rate of vacancy was that the GPD was down an entire division.  In addition, she said that the 1990 federal grant program had made it easier for more police officers to retire in the future.

Biffle stated that she had to take detectives and special services out of their regular jobs to compensate for the shortage of patrol officers and send them out on patrol.

Biffle stated that it is possible for some units to be completely destroyed.  She said, “We truly need sworn resources to respond to 911 calls.”

Marikay Abuzuaiter, City Councilmember, suggested that the GPD seek some assistance from graduates of the Police Citizens Academy. This program is designed to introduce Greensboro residents to the Police Department’s workings.

Tammi Thurm, a City Councilmember, noted that Greensboro offered only a one-time bonus for officers who have a college degree.  She said, “That’s a huge incentive for people not to come to Greensboro if they have a college degree and want to be in law enforcement.”