Fire and Police Commission reviews 2024 police recruitment results and outlines 2025 strategy

The Fire and Police Commission’s Testing and Recruitment Committee heard a staff report Jan. 7 on police recruitment and hiring results for 2024 and a strategic plan for 2025 that emphasizes expanded advertising, continuous recruitment, new vendor services for testing and backgrounds, and possible hiring incentives.

The committee was told that FPC staff recorded “approximately 1,291 applicants that met the minimum qualifications” for entry-level police officer in 2024 and 56 lateral/transfer applications, of which 16 appeared to meet minimum qualifications at the time of the presentation. Director Leon Todd said the department also recorded 159 police aid applications that met minimum qualifications, “a 75 percent increase from 2023.”

Why it matters: the city must meet staffing targets set by Act 12 and faces a 10-year target for average sworn strength. The committee’s discussion focused on ways to increase both the number of applicants and the percentage who complete testing and are appointed to academy classes.

Todd told the committee the department ran a near-continuous recruitment model through 2024 and is proposing to reopen continuous entry-level recruitment on Jan. 17, 2025. He said the city budget currently supports up to three academy classes of 65 each per year, but appointment counts for 2024 classes (46, 35 and 29) fell short of the budgeted class sizes. Todd said the lower appointment and graduation figures reflected both fewer applicants and attrition during multi-stage testing.

On demographics, staff reported the 2024 applicant pool was diverse: roughly 47% Black or African American, about 18% Hispanic and about 28.5% White, with approximately 30% female applicants. Todd said those figures are “roughly in line with the demographics of the City of Milwaukee” and noted the department still seeks higher female participation.

Staff framed several strategic pillars for 2025: expand advertising/branding (including an RFI for a marketing firm), increase boots-on-the-ground recruiting at community events and schools, maximize application opportunities through continuous recruitment, and pursue hiring incentives where funding allows. Todd said the recruitment advertising budget has more than tripled in recent years and described placements ranging from bus ads and billboards to movie preview advertising and podcast spots. The presentation referenced a recruiter-created theme described as “more than an officer,” which Todd said highlights officers’ personal stories.

The committee heard details on incentives and referral programs already in place: a $10,000 signing bonus for laterals under a recently executed memorandum of understanding (MOU), a referral program for MPA members that provides either a day of pay or a day of vacation for a successful hire, and a citywide $500 referral incentive for general city employees (payable after completion of half of the probationary period). Todd said other incentive concepts under consideration include housing support, daycare assistance and retention bonuses, but that most of those require funding from the city budget.

Testing and processing changes were a major focus. FPC staff contracted with National Testing Network (NTN) to administer written and oral exams online and to reduce turnaround time for results. Todd said online testing is designed to reduce no-shows for written exams and to shorten overall timelines. He also said NTN will be used to perform background investigations with an advertised turnaround of six to eight weeks, which staff said could reduce the background-to-appointment window from months to roughly two to three months while aiming to preserve investigation quality.

Recruiting supports described by staff included increased fit camps to prepare applicants for the state physical readiness test, expanded recruiter staffing (a second recruiter added in September 2023), school and career-fair visits, and a possible recruitment boot camp to train sworn recruiters and civilian recruiters to present unified messaging.

Committee members praised FPC staff’s workload and the volume of hires: Todd noted 116 new hires in 2023 and 110 in 2024. Commissioners asked for follow-up monitoring of drop-off points once online testing and NTN background services are in broader use. Todd said the next continuous recruitment period will be presented to the board at its next meeting and open Jan. 17, 2025.

What the committee did: this item was presented for information and planning; there was no committee vote on policy changes. The committee then moved to the next agenda item.

Ending note: staff emphasized the twin goals of increasing applicant volume and improving the conversion rate from applicant to academy graduate while maintaining testing and background standards. Several tactical updates (advertising plan details, marketing firm selection, vendor background report samples) were promised as follow-ups.