The Greensboro Police Department continues to need more officers and the interim chief said Thursday the department has needed to make some changes due to shortages.
Right now, the department has 122 total vacancies: 108 are sworn vacancies but that includes 12 people in field training and 15 in the academy.
Interim Police Chief Teresa Biffle updated Greensboro City Council Thursday on the department's staffing issues. She said they've needed to backfill some assignments and, as of October 1st, GPD has started pulling specialized units to fill patrol vacancies.
"That means your detectives that are doing follow up on cases, some of our vice-narcotics that are proactively trying to get drugs off the streets, are now having to go into call answer capacities and it's going to take away from some of the follow-up," Biffle said.
Biffle said those changes could have a larger impact.
"We may have to start looking at some specialized units and not just pull them part time to do back fill but temporarily collapse the units," said Biffle. "We'll look at what roles the police have had sworn personnel in that maybe civilian personnel can complete the same role."
Staffing shortages are not new for the Greensboro Police Department. The interim chief says staffing could be lagging for a number of reasons including fewer people applying, a growing number of officers eligible for retirement and just more people leaving the profession. The department did see an 11% increase in applications from September 2021 to September 2022.
"I'm encouraged," Biffle said. "Because if you can find anything out of the tragedy of the murder of George Floyd you see some people locally stepping up to work in law enforcement."
Biffle told City Council they will need to continue working on incentives. The new city budget passed in June gave police a more than 7% salary increase.
Police Chief Search
Greensboro Assistant City Manager Trey Davis also gave City Council an update on the search for a new police chief.
The city is working with a consulting firm to fill the job after former Chief Brian James left the position in May and later took the top police job at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Biffle has been filling the role in the interim.
Davis said the job listing will close on October 17 and they have about 13 applicants which he called "very diverse." After the position closes, city leaders will narrow down the candidates and they will then be contacted by the consulting firm.
The candidates who progress will go through an EQI test and then the city will hold an "assessment center" that will include some community members.
"After that process takes place, we strongly feel that will allow us, myself and the city manager, to identify the right candidate for our city," Davis said. "I'm ambitious, but I feel like we will be able to place someone in the police chief role by the first of the year."
The city also held feedback sessions with members of the community to hear about what they want in a new chief. About 40-70 people attended the sessions whether virtually or in-person.
"I feel really good about the consultant whose been here," Davis said. "He's been really open, providing his information directly (to) community members to contribute to the process."