ST. LOUIS — After a two month campaign, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said it received 124 applications to become police officer trainees.
Every application is processed with extensive background checks, oral interviews, physical tests, and written tests before entering the police academy.
In a news release, SLMPD said in addition to the 124 new applicants, 24 people have returned to the department after leaving for another agency.
Mitch McCoy, Director of the Public Affairs and Information Division for SLMPD, explained in May and June, they averaged 60 applications a month.
This was a 50% increase compared to 30 applications per month from Jan. 2024 to April 2024.
St. Louis Police Foundation sponsored this campaign and no taxpayer funds were utilized.
Joe Steiger, business manager for the St. Louis Police Officers Association, said the association is glad for the new applicants.
"We’re very excited and happy people are interested to join," Steiger said. "Unfortunately, some of the people are going to get washed out."
We've learned the department has 899 officers including trainees. McCoy said there are 879 commissioned officers.
On June 3, 5 On Your Side spoke to Chief Robert Tracy about staffing. He said at that time, there were 908 police officers, including the trainees in the academy.
Tracy said the ideal number would be 1,220. That means at this time, there are more than 300 openings.
McCoy said not all the 124 applicants will make it to the academy.
A police source told 5 On Your Side more than 20 people started in the most recent academy. Nine are graduating Thursday evening after 32 weeks of physical training and hours of classroom instruction. Those graduates will be partnered with a field training officer for a minimum of 15 weeks.
"They will be with a field training officer, they have to adapt to the street. They have to get that hands-on street experience and then be assigned to a district after the program," McCoy said.
In 2023, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones approved an 8-13% raise. This is along with retention bonuses and take-home cars.
Steiger said despite the recent increase in pay, other neighboring departments also bumped up salaries.
These are the numbers for starting pay according to their websites:
- For the St. Louis City's Police Department, it's $53,196
- For the St. Louis County Police Department, it's $57,616
- For the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, it's $58, 344
- For St. Charles County Police Department, it's $64,135.56
McCoy acknowledged they need to stay competitive.
"Nearby cities take advantage of our officers who are being trained with some of the best technology and some of the best tactics and of course other police departments are going to try and poach that," McCoy said. "Who wouldn't?"
McCoy said that's why it is important to have recruitment but also retention.
"People are leaving faster than they are coming in," Steiger said.
Retirement has slowed down, according to Steiger, with no one retiring last month. They are seeing officers leave for other districts where the work load is lower and pay is higher.
"Morale is not great, it’s gotten better but the shortage of manpower is the biggest problem," Steiger pointed out.
Steiger explained officers stay because they are invested in the city.
"The type of opportunities to move to different bureaus and be exposed to different types of crime, it's a great place to work and learn," he added.
Comparing the staffing shortages with neighboring departments, here are numbers provided to 5 On Your Side:
- A St. Louis County Police Department spokesperson shared, currently it has 812 commissioned police officers with 143 open police positions. It's authorized for 955 police officers.
- A spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said it's authorized for 174 Deputy positions and right now it's down nine people.
- A St. Charles County spokesperson said the department has the authorized strength of 167 commissioned police officers and it has six vacancies.
For anyone interested in becoming a SLMPD officer, visit the recruitment website here.