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After Strugging To Fill Vacancies, CMPD Sees Rise In Applications

Nick de la Canal
/
WFAE

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is making headway on filling dozens of vacancies that have bedeviled the agency in recent years, and senior officials say an aggressive hiring campaign is a significant reason for the increase.

So far this year, the police department has seen a 35 percent rise in applications and a 20 percent increase in new hires, according to a news release sent out Wednesday.

"It's huge," Police Chief Kerr Putney told reporters at a press briefing. "I think we're turning a corner."

Putney and other CMPD officers said the increased interest was the direct result of a months-long recruitment campaign, during which the department made visits to local universities and military bases, ran radio spots and bought ad space on city buses and trains.

Officers also successfully lobbied the Charlotte City Council for a pay raise this year. Councilmembers granted officersa raise of between 7 and 9.5 percent in June, though The Fraternal Order of Police had called for a 15 percent across-the-board raise.

At Wednesday's press briefing, Chief Putney said that while the increased interest was a positive sign, the department was still far from filling every empty position. As of Wednesday, the department had roughly 170 vacancies — even after hiring 102 people so far this year.

"So, so far this year, that's a failure," Putney bluntly told reporters, eliciting laughter, "but we have time to go."

The department has a goal of making 160 hires by the end of this year.

Putney said that while some of the vacancies were created by officers leaving the department, the majority — about 60 percent — were due to a wave of retirements over the last year or so that could be traced back to a hiring spree conducted by CMPD in the 1990s.

CMPD is continuing to accept police trainee applications through Sept. 15 for this hiring period, and the department encourages interested parties to attend a Facebook Live Q&A with recruiters on Friday, Sept. 7, at 10 a.m.

Nick de la Canal is an on air host and reporter covering breaking news, arts and culture, and general assignment stories. His work frequently appears on air and online. Periodically, he tweets: @nickdelacanal