Ramsey: Police Department having trouble finding new officers

RECRUITS FAILING to pass reading, fitness and polygraph tests are among reasons the Police Department has 213 fewer officers than budgeted, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said at a City Council budget hearing yesterday.

Meanwhile, the job of recruiting African-American officers has become more difficult, he said, in part because of recent national news of violent clashes between cops and black men.

"I don't have any data to support that, but I think it's common sense," Ramsey said.

"It's not a day goes by that you don't see something negative about what's occurring in policing somewhere in the country," he said. "That has an impact on young people, too, because they see that."

Attrition and potential recruits' concerns over the city's ability to provide pensions also contribute to the understaffing, Ramsey said.

The department, which is budgeted to have 6,525 officers, feels the void of not being fully staffed, Ramsey told reporters after he finished testifying.

"It does have an impact. Fortunately, we're continuing driving crime down, but it's never enough in terms of the progress that we're making. We still have too much violence, we still need to have more people out there on the street."

Ramsey said the police force is about 57 percent white, 33 percent black, 8 percent Hispanic and 1 percent Asian.

Among newly hired officers, the percentage of blacks is even lower, he said, although he did not provide the exact number.

Since he became commissioner in 2008, Ramsey said, the percentage of black officers has ticked downward from about 35 percent despite stepped-up efforts to recruit at historically black colleges and universities.

"I have personally gone out to colleges and universities trying to get interest in joining the Police Department," he said.

Ramsey said the department would increase marketing efforts to attract minorities. He said a retired military officer with recruiting experience was hired to help in that effort.

Bilingual officers, now 6 percent of the force, and more officers from the LGBT community also are needed, Ramsey said.

"I think you never have enough diversity because our society is always becoming more and more diverse," he said. "So, that's the goal."

The department's proposed fiscal year 2016 budget of $685 million is 7 percent higher than the current budget, largely because of raises the city granted to members of the Fraternal Order of Police, Ramsey said.

Regarding body cameras, 35 officers in the 22nd Police District in North Philadelphia are wearing them as part of a pilot program, Ramsey said.

By next month, the department should be ready to whittle down from seven to two the number of companies from which it may purchase cameras, Ramsey said. He cautioned that the departmentwide rollout could take three to four years and could require more funding for technical support.

The proposed 2016 budget funds the purchase of 1,600 more Tasers, which are carried by more than 1,900 officers, Ramsey said.