While dozens of new officers have joined the force in the last year, a significant increase in manpower remains elusive.
NEWARK -- While dozens of new officers have joined the Newark Police Department in the last year, a significant increase in manpower remains elusive.
Due to years of attrition, and the sweeping 2010 layoffs that cut more than 160 officers from the department, the total number of superior and rank-and-file officers continues to hover just below 1,000.
Currently, the department employs 982 officers, officials said. That's down from the 1,337 officers employed just prior to the layoffs.
City officials have partially blamed diminished ranks for everything from increasing numbers of shootings and homicides to longer police response times.
At Tuesday night's State of the City address, Mayor Ras Baraka spoke at length of the strides made toward rectifying those and other entrenched public safety issues, touting the recent police hires.
Asked if a net increase in the department's ranks is on the horizon, Baraka said the city does have the resources to keep the hiring spree going, pointing to additional classes of police officers scheduled to enter academy training in the next year.
But the process is slow, Baraka acknowledged. "We don't have our own academy, so we've had to ration our recruits out throughout the state and haven't been able to hire officers in large numbers," he said. "We need to be able to push 150 officers through at a time."
According to police records, the department lost 100 officers to retirement from 2011 to 2013.
Since the thaw of the 2010 hiring freeze, new hires have managed to offset annual retirements. Eighty-six Newark police officers retired from Jan. 1, 2014 to March 1 of this year, records indicate. The city hired 130 new officers over the same span.
City officials hope to hire an additional 80 officers by June of 2016. But as more officers become eligible for retirement, it's unclear whether the gains will continue.
James Stewart Jr., Newark Fraternal Order of Police president, said that dozens of city police officers will become eligible for retirement in the coming months.
"The new hires are great, and from City Hall on down everyone is really happy that we're hiring again," Stewart said. "But I think everyone also recognizes that we still need more bodies. Right now, we're just treading water."
Increasing the ranks is becoming more difficult as more officers opt to retire early, said Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose.
"A lot of them would normally stay until they reach their 30-years, but they're leaving at 25-years because of the rising cost of health and pension benefits," he said.
Despite the losses, Ambrose said the department welcomes any additions to capacity. "Without the 130 hired, we would have had that much less officers on the street," he said. "And we definitely needed them."
Vernal Coleman can be reached at vcoleman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vernalcoleman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.