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Police chief urges pay increases and staffing to retain officers as overtime and vacancies rise
Summary
Chief Judy Chambers told council the Chattanooga Police Department is understaffed compared with peer cities, relies heavily on overtime to meet calls for service, and seeks pay increases and recruitment efforts to reduce attrition.
At a Chattanooga City Council session, Chattanooga Police Department Interim Chief Judy Chambers presented FY2026 budget details and urged council to consider pay increases and staffing actions to retain officers amid high overtime, operational vacancies and growing calls for service.
Chambers told council the department is budgeted for 477 sworn positions but currently short on the street; she said the department is operating with roughly 401 active field officers and also counts 57 budgeted vacancies and about 71 operational vacancies in total. “What I'm asking for is the opportunity to be able to retain the 4 77,” Chambers said, urging council support to stabilize staffing.
Personnel makes up about 78.45% of the department’s budget, Chambers said; the department plans to add or preserve sworn positions while also expanding civilian professional roles such as crisis responders and victim advocates. She cited several key numbers: 477 budgeted sworn positions; 9,561.25 overtime hours per year (about 26.2 overtime hours per day on average);…
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