Despite a 24% growth in the city’s population, the Huntsville Police Department has fewer sworn officers in uniform than it had just four years ago.

According to statistics shared by Huntsville Police Chief Kirk Giles, there are 285 officers on staff. That is down from 302 in 2022.

That is not by design.

That’s because the department has 373 authorized positions. That’s 27 more than were authorized four years ago. The positions were added to keep up with the growth.

But there are currently 88 vacancies.

The Police Department’s staffing shortage came to light during the Sept. 24 City Council meeting when council members were deliberating over the $360 million Fiscal 2027 budget. It was a revelation that caught some city officials off guard.

“I did not know North Precinct had a lot of overtime because they’re short-staffed,” District 1 City Councilwoman Michelle Watkins said at the meeting.

City Administrator John Hamilton acknowledged all the city’s precincts were facing staffing issues.

Giles told reporters on Wednesday that the department has 15 officers who were either terminated or resigned because of misconduct since last fall.

“We’re not going to lower the bar of what it takes to be an officer here and what it takes to remain a police officer here,” he said.

And even though the department has 285 sworn officers, not all of them are on patrol.

“We have officers who have some kind of medical issue,” the chief said. “Currently we have 11 officers out on FMLA (family medical leave) or some kind of medical issue or injury. In addition to that, we have five who are out on military obligations.”

The department also has three officers on administrative leave and one on administrative duty.

“These are officers who under normal circumstances would be out in the field,” Giles said.

How is his department dealing with staffing shortage?

“It works out,” he said. “I mean, you know, I know over a period of time they probably get tired of working overtime, but we want to make sure we have an adequate number of officers out there, first and foremost for officer safety, but also for our citizens. We do spend overtime to make sure we fill our manpower needs.”

Giles said hiring, recruiting and retaining officers “is certainly a full-time job.”

“We’d like to be fully staffed,” he said. “We intend to be that way one day soon.”

Giles said the application, screening and academy process takes a few months. The academy itself is 19 weeks long. Another 14 weeks after that is field training.

“It may be half a year before you see the results,” he said.

Time is shorter for certified police officers transferring from another department.

‘Tight labor market’

Making filling the vacancies more challenging, the chief said, is a tough recruiting environment.

“It’s been a tight labor market,” Giles said. “We have a very low employment rate here. The fact is law enforcement over the years, I don’t want to say has gotten a black eye, but social media hasn’t helped on that.”

While Giles said there are cases when it is deserved, he said all police departments “get lumped in” with the reports of misconduct. And Giles said he has observed false reports about his own department on social media.

Because of the negative publicity, Giles said the number of people wanting to be a police officer “is not that great of a pool.”

“Everybody’s cherry picking the same people,” he said about the competition between law enforcement agencies for officers. “It’s very competitive.”

Gile said a lot of agencies “are having the same issues we are.”

The Huntsville Police Department is competitive with other law enforcement agencies in terms of starting pay, Giles said. New officers start out with a salary of about $58,000.

Retention concerns

There were concerns at the City Council meeting about topping out pay with a pay scale that was under consideration. Officer Jonathan Sallis told the Council that the pay scale left little opportunity for mid-range experienced and senior experienced officers to get a pay increase.

Sallis said that left experienced officers little incentive to remain on the force and could cause early retirements.

To keep that from happening, District 2 City Councilman David Little offered an amendment to the pay scale that provided more compensation for experienced officers. The top-off salary for Huntsville officers is about $93,000, Giles said.

Giles said he could not speak for reasons why officers would leave the department early, saying some do leave because of better pay in other industries. He said others often leave because of changing family obligations.

He said the department lost a female officer going through the academy for that very reason, saying she could not work a second or third shift assignment. Giles also used his own experience, saying his wife felt like a single parent at times when he was on patrol.

Recruiting firm

The city has hired a marketing firm to help with recruiting police officers.

The City Council approved a more than $122,000 contract with Crimson Recruiting Services LLC, a firm that specializes in helping law enforcement agencies modernize and strengthen recruitment strategies.

The city said the agreement will complement the department’s existing recruitment program by introducing additional tools, strategies and industry best practices – helping the department reach more qualified candidates interested in a career in public safety.

Giles said it is too early to measure the impact of the recruiting service. He said applications have increased, but his department is looking for quality among the candidates.

He said his department is looking for officers who meet the department’s values of integrity, knowledge and passion, “things of that nature.”

“I’ve spoken many times before of an individual having a servant’s heart,” Giles said. “We have high standards … We don’t want rogue police officers out here.”

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