Anne Arundel County Chief of Police Amal E. Awad outlined the agency’s staffing shortages and plans for the future at a County Council meeting Tuesday.

There are 51 vacancies out of the 809 officer positions allocated in the county’s $2.3 billion budget. According to the Fraternal Order of Police and County Executive Steuart Pittman, there should be 1,200 officers to deal with a population of roughly 600,000 people.

“Adequate staffing is crucial for maintaining public safety, responding to critical incidents in a timely fashion and obviously building trust within our community,” said Awad, who in 2020 became the first woman, first person of color and first member of the LGBTQ+ community to serve as chief.

The department currently has 121 “not operational” officers, Awad said. Non-operational officers have not worked for 30 days due to medical issues or military deployment, among other things.

An average of 50 police officers leave the agency each year and as of March 1, there are 186 officers eligible for retirement. The number of retirement-age officers raised concerns among some council members.

“That’s a big, scary exodus liability that’s hanging out there,” said council member Nathan Volke, a Pasadena Republican . “We’re losing 50 officers a year on average, we’re hiring classes that are just keeping up with what we see in retirement — we’re not growing like this.”

Last year, an additional year was added to the department’s Deferred Retirement Option Program, which allows officers to continue working for up to seven years after reaching age 50 with at least five years of service, or after 20 years of service regardless of age.

While the county is offering that incentive, it’s also facing the fact that only 1.8% of applicants are being hired per class.

“It sort of is a two-edged sword,” Volke said. “As good as it is to keep that experienced, great crop of officers, we also are in some ways creating a workforce that is less locked-in.”

Despite low hiring numbers, overall recruitment is on the rise, according to Awad. There was a 70% increase in the number of applicants between the two most recent recruiting classes, a result she ascribes to raising the starting salary for entry-level officers in fiscal 2025 to $70,000 from $62,160.

Anne Arundel County offers the highest entry-level starting salary for police officers in Maryland. But O’Brien Atkinson, president at Anne Arundel County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #70, said it isn’t enough to attract candidates.

“The department is doing what they can with the limited number of officers we have,” Atkinson said. “They are currently exploring the idea of mandating 12 hour workdays but even with that, we need more police officers. That will require offering better pay and benefits.”

Council member Pete Smith, a Severn Democrat, urged Awad to consider targeting fired federal employees as potential officers. Officials anticipate Maryland will lose 29,000 jobs after President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency’s plans to trim federal workers take effect.

The department has introduced a preparation program for applicants who otherwise would be unable to pass the required physical tests and reduced the onboarding process from nine to six months.

“There’s hope on the horizon,” Awad said. “We see a light at the end of the tunnel. … We’re seeing the numbers trend upward.”

The 101st recruit class, which reports for training March 27, has 20 members while the 100th, which is roughly halfway through its 35-week training, has 10. In 2021, the first class under Awad, there were 39 graduates.

“Anne Arundel County 100% should be at 1,200 authorizations,” Smith said. “I will stand on that number all day long. …So fill those 51 vacancies you have, and [County Council] will help to get that number up to 1,200.”

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