Columbus Police Department has filled all its patrol officer positions, officials say

The Columbus Police Department has filled all its patrol officer vacancies and all of its E-911 dispatch positions, according to a presentation at an Oct. 8 Columbus Council meeting.

“We are 100% full in the Columbus Police Department in the ranks of police officer,” Deputy Chief Roderick Graham, of the Bureau of Administrative Services, said at the meeting.

Graham told the Ledger-Enquirer this week that CPD is up to 369 officers and has a waiting list for new officers. The department has rebounded strongly since May 2023, when it was down to 295 officers. Among the current roster of officers are 149 patrol cops, who have occupied every available patrol position.

CPD was also struggling with hiring dispatchers. Graham said the department was about 24 dispatchers short at one point, causing dispatchers to have to work their off-time.

Graham told the Ledger-Enquirer the department is authorized 54 dispatcher positions but only had 30 in November 2023. As of Oct. 15, all 54 dispatcher positions have been filled.

Graham said the department does have two corporal vacancies, but “we are at full capacity minus those two positions,” he said.

How Columbus police managed to fill vacancies

Graham said CPD advertised these positions on social media and Indeed, which he said made a “significant change.”

Graham also attributed some of the success to Columbus Council. He said they saw more people being interested in being a police officer after Chief Stoney Mathis asked the council for a $5,000 pay raise for officers.

The starting salary for a police officer at CPD is $50,121.30, according to a sign posted in the lobby of the Public Safety Building.

Mathis said the department also streamlined the application process. The application used to be 38 pages long and is now 12 pages, according to Mathis.

Graham told the Ledger-Enquirer one thing that helped was expanding the Career Specialist Program at Fort Moore which allows CPD to recruit soldiers while they’re still in the military and then bring them on board upon leaving the military.

The soldiers go through the police academy while they’re still in the military, according to Graham.

Some of the other efforts the department has made includes recruiting from colleges, expanding recruiting outside of Georgia, and expanding efforts in bringing on certified police officers from outside the state and within the state, according to Graham.

Graham has said the Department has also seen former CPD officers coming back to the department.

CPD previously had more cops in budget

Data presented in a February 2023 city council meeting showed that Columbus police previously had 472 officer positions budgeted, but those positions weren’t all filled.

Between 2016 and 2023, the department wasn’t fully staffed at any point and the highest number of sworn personnel on staff was 413 in 2017, according to the data.