Cleveland police lose more officers; council members question recruitment efforts

CLEVELAND — The City of Cleveland continues to struggle to retain police officers.

During a regular meeting of the Cleveland City Council's Public Safety Committee, Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said there are currently 1151 officers on the force.

On March 25, police officials said there were 1153 officers on the force.

Last week, the police union's president said 34 officers have left the department so far this year. It's unclear if that number includes the two officers who had left as of Wednesday.

Along with officers leaving the force, three cadets have dropped out of the current police academy class, which started on March 25.

Chief Todd said one cadet dropped out for religious reasons, another cadet dropped out for health reasons, and a third cadet dropped out over the city's fitness requirements.

"It seems like we're going from bad to worse," said Ward 1 Councilman Joe Jones.

Jones said the current number of police officers is "unacceptable."

The city budgeted for 1350 officers this year.

For years, Cleveland budgeted for 1640 officers.

Chief Todd said she is optimistic about recruitment because there are still 49 cadets in the current academy class.

"It's much larger than a lot of our previous classes and I think it shows a little bit, there's a little change coming," she said.

Chief Todd said there are approximately 600 applicants to the department, but not all of them have taken the civil service examination or physical test, which is required.

She said the city plans to hold one police class this summer and another this fall.

During Wednesday's meeting, council members raised questions about the city's plan to hire a marketing firm to help recruit police officers.

News 5 reached out to the City of Cleveland to find out what happened to plans to conduct a recruiting campaign.

A city spokesperson sent us the following information:

• The City of Cleveland entered into a contract with the local marketing firm Little Jacket in 2023 to create a recruitment campaign for the Division of Police. The agreement, totaling $49,250, included the following activities split in three phases:
  
  • Kickoff, internal audit, stakeholder interviews, secondary research.
    
  • Develop brand strategy and visual elements. Presentation of at least 2 visual concepts.
    
  • Finalize visual elements. 
• Production and placement costs were not included in the contract. The Department of Public Safety is evaluating launching a Request for Proposals for the production and placement portion of the campaign.