BALTIMORE — In a new letter from the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, residents were warned that there aren't enough police officers to keep them safe.
Wednesday, Jan.18, four BPD officers walked into the Southwest District and resigned according to FOP president Mike Mancuso.
These officers resigned for better working conditions and pay he adds.
"The citizens of Baltimore need to know that we do not have enough police officers, currently, to keep them safe and we are losing more weekly," Mancuso says.
The letter goes on to say that since Commissioner Harrison came to Baltimore, they've lost more officers than they've hired.
"Working conditions need to improve drastically and there needs to be a retention policy that incentivizes longevity with pay bonuses. If this does not occur now, we can all be assured that the Mayor and Police Commissioner are just defunding the Baltimore Police Department in an undercover manner and have no concern for the safety of the public," Mancuso adds.
WMAR reached out to BPD for an official statement and here's the response from BPD detective Donny Moses:
The Baltimore Police Department does not comment on statements made by the F.O.P union; however, we are currently fact checking the accuracy of your recent inquiry.
Our data shows that as of December 31, 2022, there were 455 sworn vacancies.
In 2022, the department hired 103 new officers, while 277 sworn members separated from the agency. The attrition rate was lower in 2022 than in 2021. In both years, the majority of the departures were due to retirements.
The Baltimore Police Department continues to combat recruitment challenges, which are not only local issues, but is a nationwide trend. In the month of August the BPD announced new hiring incentives and the city recently negotiated an agreement with the police union that brings the starting salary of police officers to just above $60,000 per year, which is the highest starting salary in the state of Maryland.
BPD also provided data that shows different pay incentives for officers.
These incentives include:
- Members who have an associate's degree, bachelor's degree or master's degree will earn an additional $1,500, $3,000 or $4,500, respectively each year.
- The patrol incentive doubles to $2,000 annually.
- Shift differential pay for evening and night work, more than doubles
Those pay incentives went into effect January 1, 2022.
