Lansdale wants to hire more police officers.
Council Vice President Meg Currie Teoh said last week the department has lost one officer this year, while a sergeant will retire in the near future. A third officer has a long-term medical issue.
While the Montgomery County borough may hire up to two cops to replace the departures, according to Currie Teoh, around four to five more could retire by 2029.
“We don’t want to get too far behind on this. We can keep up on the hiring and stay ahead of this,” she said.
Keeping police ranks level has been a focus of Police Chief Mike Trail.
During a Council Public Safety Meeting on Sept. 4, Trail said he reviews staffing levels each year to make sure there are enough officers on the street. The information is used to prepare for any pending departures.
Lansdale employs 29 officers in the department, based on its population growth. The chief said it’s important to ensure police keep officer levels steady to avoid starting to “trend in the wrong direction – losing officers.”
The formula the department uses to determine staffing ratios recommends Lansdale employ 32 officers. But Currie Teoh said they want to stay at 29 “to remain reasonable with our budget.”
The Civil Service Commission has a list of eligible police officer candidates. The commission will determine the top three candidates by the end of the month.
One problem with those candidates is they’ll have to go to the Police Academy, according to Trail. Montgomery County has an academy class that starts next month. Trail and Currie Teoh want the borough to move quickly after the finalists are picked so they can be put in that class.
If they don’t get the hiring done, “we don’t get another academy class until March,” said Trail.
State taxpayer money would pay for the Police Academy costs.
The next Lansdale Borough Council meeting is Sept. 18.
The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) said departments saw 45 percent of officers leave the force following the COVID pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests between 2020 and 2022.
That may have changed last year. In April, PERF said there were fewer resignations in 2023 than in 2022 and 2021. Retirements returned to 2019 levels. Officer levels are still about 8,000 less than they were before 2020, despite 11,000 new cops being hired last year.
The survey found smaller and medium police forces were able to hire officers at a greater rate than larger departments.
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