In an update to the city council on Tuesday, Fort Worth Assistant Police Chief Robert Alldredge explained how his department is prioritizing staffing amid an ongoing staffing shortage.
Alldredge said the priority is the patrol unit. He said are officers who respond to 911 calls and are "the backbone" of the department.
In his presentation to the council, Alldredge said there are 106 patrol vacancies, 53 in the support bureau, and nine vacancies in the finance and personnel bureau.
Then, he said the violent crime unit needs to be staffed to operate properly.
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Alldredge said they also have contracts to meet, like staffing school resource officers.
Beyond that, he said, priorities and vacancies for each unit change sometimes each month to month or week.
“So it’s really kind of challenging for us to stand up here and tell you, ‘I’m going to fill this unit on this date, I’m going to fill another unit on another date,'" Alldredge told members of the city council during a work session at City Hall on Tuesday.
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He said every unit has legitimate needs but right now, they need to make some tough decisions.
"We do our best to share the burden amongst these vacancies across the department and fill our vacancies with the everchanging priorities given to our department," he said.
Alldredge also talked about changes to the academy to help get more cadets out the door and onto the streets.
He said they've been able to shorten training by making it more efficient, going from a 40-week course to 34 weeks.
They've also added after-hour tutoring sessions to help struggling cadets.
Alldredge said they were also seeing a lot of dropouts due to the physical fitness requirements of the academy. He said they've added things like workout plans and pre-academy practice sessions to help cut those numbers.
Alldredge said once a recruiting class nears completion, department staff look at vacancies across the departments and consider the following:
- The priority of each position needed
- The negative impact of leaving a position vacant
- The impact of filling one position over others
- The total vacancy rate for each unit experiencing a vacancy
- The overall goals of the department for filling or leaving the position vacant
